0 2 0 2 R P 80 Years Young · 20 Kia Ora April 2020 21 Ai eln 80 ears oung. Above: The new uniform...

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80 Years YoungAlways looking forward

A f lying visitWe celebrate Air New Zealand’s 80th birthday with a look back at some

of the airline’s favourite moments through the decades.

Above: The TEAL staff Christmas party alongside the Solent at Mechanics Bay in 1950. Right: TEAL staff in front of the flying boat Awatere at Mechanics Bay the same year.

Far left: National Airways Corporation (NAC) posters beckoned travellers with promises ranging from the breathtaking beauty of the destination to savings that could be made on bookings. NAC, the country’s domestic airline, which also flew some Pacific routes, merged with Air New Zealand in 1978. Left: Passengers enjoying drinks at the bar on the Solent.

Above: A tourism poster designed by Bill Haythornthwaite.Below: Passengers disembarking a Solent aircraft onto a pontoon

1940s

1950s

Left: A 1946 Tasman Empire Airways (TEAL)Poster. Australia was and still is a popular destination for New Zealanders.Above: The flying boat’s interiors were spacious, allowing room for passengers

to stretch out and relax on the long trips. Below: Performing culinary miracles in confined spaces was standard. Below right: The original six TEAL stewardesses at Mechanics Bay, Auckland, in 1946.

Left: ZK-AMH arriving in New Zealand from the UK in October 1947. Air New Zealand’s first aircraft was an early leader in commercial versatility and opened up travel. The Short Brothers S25 Sutherland Mark III did not need a runway or an airport, just water. Below: Princess Elizabeth with the Duke of Edinburgh, leaving the aircraft Aotearoa in June 1949. The airline has had a long association with the royal family – nearly as old as the airline itself.

at Mechanics Bay. The first flight from Auckland to Sydney took nine hours.

20 Kia Ora April 2020 21

Air New Zealand 80 Years Young

Above: The new uniform designed by Nina Ricci of Paris was featured in the July 1976 issue of Jetaway, the inflight magazine of the day. Below: Two girls take part in an inflight marketing campaign in 1977. They featured again on

Above: A NAC staff photo in front of a Fokker Friendship. At the beginning of the 60s NAC had carried five million passengers. Left: The Beatles arrive in Aotearoa. George Harrison chats with a member of the welcoming party, while Ringo Starr, John Lennon and Paul McCartney try their hand at poi. Right: A Pacific route cabin crew member in the blue kaftan uniform.

Left: The Dior crew uniform with the classic 60s accessory – the duffel bag. Above: The DC-8’s arrival at Christchurch Airport drew a crowd of eager plane-spotters. It was a game changer, opening

Above: An advertising poster heralds the arrival of the new NAC Boeing 737 aircraft. Below: NAC’s 70s ‘Lollipop’ uniforms. Bottom: Engineering has always been a key and highly skilled

1960s

1970s

the airline’s 75th anniversary commemorative stamps in 2015.Right: The New Zealand public got their first glimpse of the new Nina Ricci uniforms on TV2’s Town Cryer show, hosted by entertainer Max Cryer.

up flights to the US, Singapore and Hong Kong. Right: Crew preparing silver service during a time when crayfish was very much on-trend.

division of the airline. Engineers not only maintained Air New Zealand aircraft, they also provided sought-after services for other international airlines.



Above: The arrival of the first fleet of Boeing 747s marked the beginning of a new era for Air New Zealand. Right: Pope John Paul II presents crew with a papal medal in recognition of services given by the company.Below: The First Class lounge with the staff in Nina Ricci-designed uniforms.

Left: Superlatives were rolled out and every angle was covered in an advertising blitz encouraging travellers to book flights to the US. Above: The new

Above: The Fokker F27 Friendship fleet was retired. Left: The new Barbara Lee uniform was unveiled in 1992. Right: One of the new Boeing 737-300s which progressively replaced the Boeing 737-200 fleet operating on domestic routes.

Left: Signs directed passengers to smoking and non-smoking areas – although the line between was somewhat hazy. Above and right: Air New Zealand’s 1999

1980s

1990s

Isabel Harris uniform with hat, coat and cabin bag, echoed the airline’s brand colours.

campaign The World’s Warmest Welcome became an instant hit with the Kiwi public.



Right: The safety video Just Another Day in Middle-earth captivated fans all around the world. Below: In 2009, the Bare Essentials inflight safety video went live. The video, featuring Air New Zealanders in full body paint, received more than three million YouTube hits in the first 10 days. Bottom left: In 2004 Air New Zealand unveiled its new long-haul service with

Left and above: In 2008, new state-of-the-art domestic self check-in kiosks, gate scanners and straight-to-gate check-in were introduced. Below: Air New Zealand’s Fairy, showcased by Google

Left: Air New Zealand has proudly partnered with the All Blacks for more than 20 years. Below: Since 2012 Air New Zealand’s partnership with

Above: Air New Zealand currently operates one of the largest ATR fleets in the world. Right: Connections through Asia grew with the launch of the Taipei route in 2018 and Seoul in 2019. Below: The introduction of Airband™, a wristband for children travelling unaccompanied, allowed parents and guardians to follow their journeys.

2000s

2010s

at a conference on innovation, highlighted the importance of social media and being proactive. Bottom: The Zambesi uniform was the first wardrobe change in more than two decades.

the Department of Conservation has resulted in the relocation of endangered native wildlife, including takahē.

Left: The innovative Skycouch was introduced on Los Angeles to London services in 2011. Below: Air New Zealand threw its weight behind Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth with innovative campaigns that included Hobbit aircraft livery.

lie-flat beds, direct-aisle access and audio-video-on-demand in all cabins. Bottom right: The decorated Pink Flight taking revellers to the Sydney Mardi Gras.



Fast forwardAir New Zealand’s Economy Skynest – pods in which customers can lie down and rest

during long-haul flights – is yet another bar-raising invention from the airline.

IN KEEPING WITH 80 years of forward thinking, Air New Zealand has come up with another headline-making innovation. The Economy Skynest – made up of six full-length lie-flat sleep pods – is the result of three years of research and development at its Auckland Hangar 22 innovation centre, and the input of more than 200 customers.

Each Economy Skynest pod is more than 2m long and 0.58m wide. The plan is for each pod to include a full-size pillow, sheets, blanket and ear plugs, along with privacy curtains and lighting designed for sleep.

Final details are still to come, but

Economy Skynest is “a prize worth chasing and one that we think has the potential to be a game-changer for economy-class travellers on all airlines around the world”, says Air New Zealand’s Head of Aircraft Programmes Kerry Reeves.

“At Air New Zealand, we continue to nurture a can-do attitude; we’re not afraid of being bold and trying new things. The question is never ‘can we do this’ but instead, ‘is it right to do this for our customers?’ and, if so, ‘how will we do this?’” he says.

Customers who helped develop the concept have positive things to say. “It

feels so good,” says one. “I’m 1.88m tall and it’s actually 15cm too long at my feet. I’m really surprised, because I thought it would be too short for me, but I had plenty of room. I want to book it now.”

Another praised the potential for ‘time out’. “For me it would be transformational. I would be grateful for the opportunity to sleep, whether I slept or not.

“If there was an option to lie down, this would be a reason to choose an airline, even if the tickets were a bit more expensive. I would be more likely to be brand loyal.”

The Economy Skynest is the latest in a

long tradition of Air New Zealand’s clever thinking and innovation. In 2004 the airline was the first in the southern hemisphere to launch both a Premium Economy class and a lie-flat bed in Business Premier.

In 2009 the company transformed the traditionally dull safety video into a colourful production in which entertainment met safety briefing. The following year, the Skycouch lie-flat sleep solution in economy class hit headlines around the globe.

In another first, in 2014 a mobile app was introduced so lounge guests could order barista-made coffee.

The next year the airline launched Airband, which uses technology to keep track of unaccompanied children.

In 2017 we met Oscar the helpful chatbot on the airline’s website, and last year Air New Zealand was the first airline to trial edible coffee cups to help combat inflight waste.

Air New Zealand will make a final decision whether to operate the Economy Skynest next year after its performance has been assessed during the inaugural year of flights between Auckland and New York.

General Manager Customer Experience Nikki Goodman says, “We see a future flying experience where an economy-class

——

At Air New Zealand, we continue to nurture a can-do attitude; we’re not afraid of being bold and

trying new things.——

This page clockwise from top left: Head of Aircraft Programmes Kerry Reeves (left) and CEO Greg Foran. Economy Skynest pods; Olympic sailing gold medallists Blair Tuke (left) and Peter Burling try out the prototype; General Manager Customer Experience Nikki Goodman. Opposite page: Economy Skynest pods.

customer on long-haul flights would be able to book the Economy Skynest in addition to their Economy seat, get some quality rest and arrive at their destination ready to go.

“This is one of the highlights of three years’ intensive work centred on customer wellbeing. We’re sure this innovation is going to be a game changer for the industry and bring significant improvements to long-haul flying,” she says.

“We expect other airlines will want to explore licensing the Economy Skynest from us, just as they have with the Economy Skycouch.”



People powerEmployees who have enjoyed decades-long careers, and families with multiple

generations on staff are not out of the ordinary at Air New Zealand.

ASK JARROD KIRK what role Air New Zealand played in his childhood, and for a moment the Airbus A320 captain is lost for words. “It’s like asking a fish what water is like,” he eventually answers. “It surrounds you.”

The Kirk family’s association stretches three generations, to the early days of the airline’s predecessors TEAL and NAC. Jarrod’s grandfather Bill Kirk, a former Māngere farmer and post-war reserve Air Force pilot, started his career flying one of NAC’s fabric-covered de Havillands up the coast between Auckland and Northland, and finished it as an international captain on an Air New Zealand Boeing 737. His grandmother Naomi was a stewardess on TEAL’s trans-Tasman flying boat service.

Jarrod’s father Roger is currently a 777 captain, and his uncle Philip is one of Air New Zealand’s two Boeing technical pilots.

“I got into flying to fly for Air New Zealand,” says Jarrod, whose first piloting experience was as a primary school kid when his dad wangled him time on a 737 simulator. “That basic assumption underpinned everything.”

Philip’s son, Will Kirk, has worked as a warehouse agent in Cargo for three and a half years. “As long as I can remember, aviation has been in my family. So many members have worked for Air New Zealand or in the industry. The shift team I work with are really close-knit – it’s very easy to get up and come to work every day. It really is like a family, the culture is very inclusive.”

Can he see himself staying with the airline in the longer term? “I really enjoy the work in Cargo – and there are lots of avenues available to me, so I look forward to where I might end up in the business.”

Air New Zealand has other flight crew with multi-generational ties – and you might expect that of a national airline with an 80-year history. But the family theme runs deeper, with husbands and wives, mothers and daughters, siblings and cousins working for the airline across a number of operations.

Violet and Tony Tupu met soon after they started working for Air New Zealand at the end of the 1990s. Violet was a customer service agent and is now Services Manager – Customer, leading a shift of three team

——A lot of the pilots I flew with when I first joined had been co-pilots for my father, and now I’m a senior captain, a

lot of my co-pilots are the sons of guys I flew with.

——

managers in charge of 120-odd staff and is based at Auckland International Airport. Tony began as a baggage loader and these days is Air New Zealand’s Airport Operations Manager for both Auckland terminals.

Their 25-year-old daughter LoRene’e recently started as a flight attendant – she kept her parents in the dark about the position until it was a done deal, according to Violet. “She said ‘I got that job.’ I asked, ‘Where are you working?’ She said, ‘Air New Zealand.’ It’s in our blood.”

Likewise for Airbus captain Paul Ashley and his daughter Becky, who is currently Deputy Service Manager on the Boeing 787. Becky’s grandfathers both flew for the airline; an uncle worked as an engineer; another is a current 787 captain; and her younger sister Lucy has been a summer temp. “We’ve got quite the family business going on,” says Becky, whose first postings included working as cabin crew on flights piloted by her dad.

Like Jarrod Kirk, the airline figured strongly in her early years. For her 11th birthday, Paul flew her to Wellington – she sat on the flight deck the whole way. When her paternal grandfather Ian retired, the extended family all tagged along for his

final flight from Nadi to Auckland. “We got to go up to the cockpit to see

Granddad flying the plane home. That’s pretty cool: to have seen both my dad and granddad in their ‘office’.”

Paul says the ‘family thing’ goes beyond blood ties. “A lot of the pilots I flew with when I first joined had been co-pilots for my father, and now that I’m a senior captain on the Airbus a lot of my co-pilots are the sons of guys I flew with. Those connections are all over the place at Air New Zealand.”

Another theme of the airline is longevity of service. A string of Air New Zealanders have clocked up 40 years with the company – Jarrod’s father Roger Kirk celebrated the milestone last year – and one ex-NAC employee is set to knock off half a century.

Sheila O’Neil’s 45 years with the airline began as a stenographer in Christchurch in 1974. She’s now senior manager for American airports, as well as London and Argentina, and is based at Los Angeles Airport. “I remember on my first day we had a morning tea for two staff members who were receiving their 10-year pins.

“I thought then, because I was young, ‘Oh my God, that’s a lifetime. I’ll never be with Air New Zealand in 10 years.’”

During her 45 years, she moved from secretary to the sales team to airport operations. She became Air New Zealand’s first female airport manager, when she headed the Perth operation. She moved six times with the job, and has spent much of her career based overseas. “I was always looking for something new, for a challenge, and that’s helped me get to where I am today.”

Why so long with one company? “I’m passionate about Air New Zealand. It’s the

This page from top: Services Manager – Customer, Violet Tupu and her husband Tony, Airport Operations Manager in Auckland; Sheila O’Neil in at the Perth office circa 1987; O’Neil today. She is an

Air New Zealand Senior Manager for American airports, as well as London and Argentina. Opposite page: Members of the Kirk family, from left: Philip, Will, Jarrod and Roger.



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brand, the different cultures I’ve worked through, the people I’ve met and the mentors I’ve had along the way,” she says.

“Representing the brand offshore is very important to me. My goal with my team is always to punch above our weight, to make sure that Air New Zealand is seen as a leader in the communities we work in.”

It’s a very different airline now, obviously. When Sheila took up the Perth role, the head of operations wrote her a letter. “Basically, he said the company was taking a risk putting a female in the role, and the senior manager would be coming to visit me on a regular basis,” she says. “We’ve come a long way.”

Hardayal (Hardy) Singh has notched up four decades with the airline, in a variety of roles. “It’s been 60 percent of my life,” says the Aucklander. “I started before I got married and before I had children.”

Fijian-born Hardy says he was one of the “fortunate six” chosen when Air New Zealand set up a reservations office in Suva in 1980. Seventeen years later he moved to Auckland to help run travel centres, first in Manukau, then in Pukekohe and West Auckland. Three years ago he joined the lounge team, as a host. He loves the “Kiwiness” of the lounges. “You have New Zealand foods, the Koru and New Zealand culture.”

He also derives great satisfaction from looking after the guests, and admits some have got so comfortable and so engaged in conversations they’ve missed their boarding calls – and their flights.

Kirk began his Air New Zealand career in 1985, starting on the Fokker Friendship, followed by the 747-200, the A320 and then to his current role as a technical pilot on the 787.

“When I started we only had five international aircraft,” he says. “We’d fly to Tokyo once a week. It’s hard to imagine, but we weren’t flying to places like Vancouver and San Francisco. We didn’t even fly direct to Los Angeles, we had to go via Honolulu.”

Routes have multiplied, and the fleet has grown. Air New Zealand is now a multi-billion dollar business with 12,500 staff. Inevitably, the culture has changed and Paul Ashley reckons it has changed for the better. “Possibly 30 or more years ago it was run a bit more like a military operation. It’s a lot friendlier and more family-oriented now.”

Roger Kirk says retaining the ‘people factor’ has been critical to success. “An airline is its people. Everyone flies the same aeroplanes, and the food is similar. So it comes down to the people that you have. If we get that right, then you have a memorable flight. We try hard to do that.”

One passenger had to wait seven hours but, says Hardy, he didn’t regret it for a moment.

He’s a firm believer in the power of a smile. “If we can bring smiles to faces, it is the most rewarding experience we can have. We are in the business of people, people and people.”

He’s never felt he was working for a “corporate”. “I’ve always felt part of Air New Zealand and Air New Zealand is a part of me. I’m proud to be an Air New Zealander. And I think the best [of the airline] is yet to come.”

The airline has come a long way, not just in terms of opportunities for its staff. Philip

——When I started we only had

five international aircraft. We’d fly to Tokyo once a week.

It’s hard to imagine, but we weren’t flying to places like

Vancouver and San Francisco.——

Clockwise from top: Lounge host Hardayal (Hardy) Singh; Ian Ashley with his family on his last flight for Air New Zealand; Ian’s son Paul, an Airbus pilot and Paul’s daughter Becky, Deputy Service Manager on the Boeing 787.

32 Kia Ora


FROM CRAYFISH MEDALLIONS and caviar to edible coffee cups, food has always been a special part of the Air New Zealand experience. The airline began its life 80 years ago as Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL). In 1940, a TEAL luncheon meant oysters on shell and tomato soup to start, followed by a cold buffet of roast chicken, pineapple ham and salads, topped off with fruit salad and cream, cheese, biscuits and coffee.

Some past menu items, such as pressed ox tongue, aren’t so appealing to our 21st-century palates. Others are plain confusing, such as Saratoga chips – the old-fashioned term for potato chips. And it’s hard to believe the bar menu once included a selection of cigarettes to enjoy during your flight.

Oddities aside, what really defined the early days was luxury. In the 50s and 60s, first-class passengers could indulge in a pre-luncheon martini and hors d’oeuvres, then have whole crayfish delivered to their seats. First-class service, complete with Crown Lynn crockery, rivalled anything on the ground in the 1960s.

TEAL changed its name to Air New Zealand in 1965, but the trend for gourmet dining continued. In fact, says Inflight Catering Manager Murray Hare, “The food was far more elaborate even 20 or 25 years ago.”

He remembers when economy passengers could expect prawn cocktail starters, beef eye-fillet with all the accompaniments, and pavlova with fresh strawberries for dessert. “It was a different time.”

Step up to the plateIn decades past, meal times on the national carrier were sumptuous affairs. Today’s

offerings are still top-notch and seasoned with innovation and sustainability.

First class, meanwhile, was service fit for a queen – literally. In 1995 Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, took an Air New Zealand flight from London via Los Angeles to Auckland.

“It was a very beautiful experience,” Hare recalls. “We often served caviar, foie gras, lobster and scallops, and our customers drank Dom Perignon. We used to have knives on board, including large, sharp carving knives, and the crew would serve beef Wellington carved at your seat.”

Tighter safety regulations put an end to on-board carving knives in the early 2000s, and demand for more affordable air travel has seen some of the more extravagant menu items dropped. But Air New Zealand still delivers top-shelf experiences.

Today’s Business Premier customers choose from a full menu of appetisers, mains and desserts, and dine with tablecloths, china and glassware.

Business Premier menus are created by Hare and his three-strong culinary team, all qualified professional chefs. Each menu includes a dish from leading restaurateur Peter Gordon, who has been a consultant chef for Air New Zealand since 1996.

After all these years, Gordon says he still finds the process of adapting food to fit different environments fascinating. “I also fly a lot, so I understand the importance of an inflight meal. It’s first and foremost food, but it’s also a little theatre, and it fills in time.”

His biggest challenge is designing meals

Celia Harvey, the airline’s Culinary Standards Manager North America, and Inflight Catering Manager, Murray Hare.

This page: Dining options at the front of the aircraft have always been in line with fine-dining restaurants of the time, while small spaces have always meant not just efficiency in service but also creative thinking.



that can be plated up quickly, with limited space. “In a restaurant, you might have a dish that requires you to put eight components on the plate. Our team doesn’t have that luxury of time, so we limit the components in a way that still produces a fabulous looking and tasting meal.”

Naturally, Gordon can’t oversee all 500,000 Business Premier meals served by Air New Zealand each year, but he trusts the airline and its caterers to get it right.

“The people producing my dishes have a sense of pride in what they cook, and I give detailed advice so they can make it as close as possible to what I created. The fact we often win awards shows we’re doing a good job.”

Considering the airline served more than 500,000 Business Premier meals last year, you’d think this would be enough to keep Hare and his colleagues busy. But it’s just the beginning – they’re responsible for designing and overseeing all 6.6 million meals served globally by Air New Zealand each year.

Selections change three times a year for long-haul and monthly for trans-Tasman/Pacific Island routes, and there are more than 200 menu options at any one time.

The team works six months in advance, which gives them time to dream up dishes and develop them with the airline’s catering partner, LSG Sky Chefs.

Separate meals are available by request for customers with special dietary needs (gluten-free or diabetic, for example) or religious requirements. Currently, there are 14 types of special meal available. Sound like a lot? Until 2000, there were 32 options.

Hare and his team also include destination-specific dishes, wherever possible. When non-stop flights between Auckland and Seoul launched last year, they mastered the Korean rice dish bibimbap.

Other recent triumphs include the Impossible Burger, a plant-based patty that looks and tastes like beef. Culinary S

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Clockwise, from top left: Presentation standards have always been high; 1969 in-flight silver service; consultant chef Peter Gordon at his Auckland restaurant The Sugar Club; a meat-free Impossible Burger.

Standards Manager Celia Harvey spent months working with the LA-based catering team to enhance the burger for Air New Zealand customers. First, she designed accompaniments and came up with the idea of doubling the flavour by sticking two patties together with cheese.

“Then, the chefs from Impossible had to come and teach our chefs how to cook it,” she recalls, “because it needs to be treated differently from a regular meat patty. It’s a plant protein, with no animal fat, so it’s delicate. We wanted customers to get the best possible representation of it.”

In 2019, Air New Zealand successfully trialled vanilla-flavoured edible coffee cups, made by Kiwi company twiice.

Eighty years ago, TEAL customers might have dismissed these things as science fiction. Then again, the airline has always been a trailblazer – it was said to be first in the world to boil water on board, despite naysayers’ claiming it was impossible.

At its core, Air New Zealand’s approach to food hasn’t changed since 1940, Hare says. “We’re totally about quality, and we’re out to bring our customers the best innovative catering.”

36 Kia Ora


THE AIR NEW ZEALAND Koru is a world-class piece of design. Visually bold, instantly recognisable and meaningful, its evolution over the years has involved agencies here and overseas. By contrast, the original logo, the far less well-known ‘Maroro’, was literally designed overnight by a couple of Auckland admen whose ‘brief ’ was a quick conversation with the airline’s General Manager. Either way – hastily conceived or intricately plotted – design has been a key factor in the evolution of the national carrier’s identity during its 80 years.

“The Koru has been the iconic symbol, but there’s also the different colours over the years, the uniforms our staff have worn, the livery on the aircraft – a whole lot of design elements,” says Air New Zealand General Manager Global Brand & Content Jodi Williams. “We were from this tiny country at the bottom of the world, and we really needed to stand out.”

“For many travellers to Aotearoa their first experience of Māori culture is seeing the symbol on the tail of an Air New Zealand

plane,” says Henare Johnson, the airline’s Cultural Development Manager. “For years the symbol has been known as the Koru, but the way the shape is formed is known as Mangōpare, which is the hammerhead shark. It is known in te ao Māori for strength, tenacity and courage, which is why it is a revered symbol. To wear the Mangōpare is a privilege. The airline embraces the opportunity to display it with pride and respect.”

It all began with the Maroro, a stylised representation of a flying fish that was designed for the airline’s forerunner, TEAL, in 1946. Peter Haythornthwaite is the son of the Maroro’s principal designer, pioneering New Zealand ad agency owner Bill Haythornthwaite. A celebrated industrial designer in his own right, Peter says he heard the story of the logo’s hasty genesis more than once from his father, who’d barely established his studio in the Dilworth Building on Auckland’s Queen Street when he got the project.

“Dad was working late one night when

Geoffrey Roberts, the General Manager of TEAL, came in and said, ‘I need a cap badge designed by tomorrow morning for a board meeting, can you do it?’” says Peter.

Bill Haythornthwaite and designer George Moore worked through the night to devise the symbol and the capitalised typeface that TEAL later used for all its branding. They did have a head start, however, in that their work clearly referenced the ‘Speedbird’ logo of British airline and TEAL shareholder BOAC. Peter considers Roberts was probably responsible for that. “He would have said ‘BOAC owns a good portion of this airline; I think we should pick up on its logo but make it ours.’”

Why the flying fish? TEAL at the time operated Solent flying boats, so there was that. The Maroro was also strongly associated with long-distance Māori sea voyages. “This suited the company at the time as the first planes were sea planes,” says Henare Johnson.

Bill Haythornthwaite’s studio went on to become TEAL’s default agency, designing everything from cabin interiors to uniforms to posters. As for the Maroro logo,

“Although designed on the fly it proved versatile, easy to apply, could stand alone or work with other elements and it was distinctive – there was nothing like that in the South Pacific, which was where TEAL operated,” says Peter.

Fast forward beyond 1965 and the renaming of TEAL as Air New Zealand, and the creation of a new logo ahead of the arrival of the airline’s first DC-10s in 1973. Initially, the airline went offshore for rebranding ideas – but none of them felt like New Zealand – before commissioning Auckland’s Roundhill Studio to design a logo and typeface. Roundhill was briefed to use a Māori motif, and to play up associations between aircraft and sea voyaging waka.

Roundhill’s Tom Elliott instigated the concept; senior designer Ken Chapman refined the logo, drawing inspiration from a photograph of a decorated Māori gourd. “The future would be international air travel and the symbol needed was something that could be recognised by the average New Zealander as their symbol,” said Chapman in a 2016 interview with the airline.

With its fern frond evoking new growth and arrow-like Mangōpare the symbol was a landmark in New Zealand commercial design. When the first DC-10 landed in

Follow the signNo matter where you are in the world, the Air New Zealand Koru represents home.

We trace the history of the airline’s distinctive designs, right back to the 1940s.

Clockwise from top left: Designer George Moore; a TEAL poster from the Air New Zealand archive; vintage signage; Boeing 747 & 737 aircraft formed part of the operating fleet throughout the decades; Designer Bill Haythornthwaite; TEAL’s Mechanics Bay, Auckland sales office. Opposite page: Air New Zealand livery.



Auckland with the new logo on its tail, Chapman was floored: “I just thought ‘Wow! It’s arrived.’”

And it stayed pretty much unchanged, apart from a subtle refinement during a revamp of the airline’s branding during the mid 1990s. It also kept Air New Zealand’s connection with the sea, says Johnson.

Jef Wong, whose Auckland studio Designworks redesigned Air New Zealand’s livery and wordmark in the 2010s, says: “It’s such a simple, iconic symbol – you don’t want to mess with that.”

Air New Zealand in-house Senior Designer Garrick Sutherland feels the same. “It’s an honour to be part of the creative history of the airline and to continue the guardianship of the brand – especially the Koru,” he says.

Last year, Sutherland led the creative process to design a new logo to celebrate the airline achieving 80 years of operation. The anniversary logo draws inspiration from both the Maroro (it’s evident in the feathery lines of the zero) and the Koru (witness the angle of the ‘8’).

“It feels like part of the family,” says Sutherland of the new design. “We’ve based the form on our font ‘Air New Zealand Sans’ by Kris Sowersby, and the weighting of the feathers and everything else is reflective of the wordmark, so it all works in harmony together.”

Of course, design is just one element. Prior to the 75th anniversary of the airline in 2015, Jodi Williams enjoyed helping sort through the legacy for a museum exhibition. Through all the visual changes over the years, the consistent theme was thoughtfulness and care. “Branding, symbols and design are important, but it’s the people who wear the Koru every day who make the difference.

“I hear so many stories from customers who say, ‘I see the Koru on the tail, the crew welcome me on board with ‘Kia ora’ and have a chat, and I feel like I’m home.’” P

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Clockwise from above left: Design inspiration; Ken Chapman, Koru design team lead in 1972; inspiration from nature; the Air New Zealand 80 Years Young logo; new livery goes on; ATR aircraft preparing to depart Queenstown Airport.

40 Kia Ora


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