| News Release William Pickering Award for Engineering Leadership 24 November 2010 Air New Zealand Chief Executive Rob Fyfe has been awarded the premier individual prize at the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards, the William Pickering Award for Engineering Leadership 2010. Rob Fyfe completed his studies in mechanical engineering whilst with the Royal New Zealand Air Force. He entered the commercial world in 1987 and held a number of management roles in New Zealand before moving to senior management roles with ITV Digital PLC in London in 2000. On his return to New Zealand he joined Air New Zealand, becoming Chief Executive in 2005. In 2010, Air New Zealand was awarded the title of Airline of the Year at the Air Transport World Global Airline Awards, testimony to the reputation it enjoys as an industry innovation leader despite its relatively small size. This is in large part due to the transformational leadership and vision of Rob Fyfe. The application of an innovative engineering mindset as a core part of Air New Zealand’s business is very evident in increasing the fuel efficiency of the fleet, including trialling bio-fuels; improving the fleet through well-timed replacement purchases; humanising the interface at terminals; and rewriting cabin design – initially in business class and more recently in the lie-down economy seat. As well as creating the environment in which so many technical successes occurred, Rob has transformed the face of the airline – through working directly with staff one day a month, his visibility to customers, and by empowering staff to adopt new business approaches embracing technology and social media. The dignified manner in which the tragic events at Perpignan were managed, and his willingness to step up in response to the earlier Erebus tragedy are the mark of a great leader. Mr Fyfe was presented with his award at the Engineering Excellence Awards gala dinner in Wellington. The event was hosted by Linda Clark and attended by more than 360 guests. Initiated in 2005, the New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards are the premier awards for the engineering professionals of New Zealand. The awards are presented in two major areas: Awards Recognising People, that recognise leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship and our young engineers; and Project and Product Awards, which recognise achievement in the various industry areas, together with a Supreme Award for the best of the Project and Product winners. |