The racist backlash against Air NZ’s new CEO

Friday, 1 August 2025

Jehan Casinader is a public speaker, journalist and mental health advocate.

OPINION: “From the waka in the sky, to the curry in the sky. I’ll never go on that dump of an airline again.”

Ethan from Christchurch is having a bad start to the morning. He’s upset about the ethnicity of Air New Zealand’s new CEO. And he’s not alone.

“New Zealand is now becoming Little India,” laments Richard in Lower Hutt. “He doesn’t even have a Kiwi accent.”

“Next minute, all the Air NZ employees will be of the Asian variety,” writes Philip in Auckland.

These are some of the most tame comments among a torrent of bile that spewed across social media, after Nikhil Ravishankar was announced as the airline’s new boss on Wednesday.

“We have disabled the post due to racist comments,” wrote the Herald’s social media team. RNZ and 1News did the same.

Were those comments written by bigoted bots? Sadly not. Many came from real people, triggered by the very ordinary appointment of a middle-aged brown man in a suit.

We’ve been here before. In 2010, broadcaster Paul Henry asked Prime Minister John Key about Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand, a respected judge of Indo-Fijian descent.

“Is he even a New Zealander?” asked Henry, oblivious to the fact that Satyanand was born in Auckland. “Are you going to choose [a Governor-General] who looks and sounds like a New Zealander this time?”

Fifteen years on, New Zealand is a much more inclusive place for people from different cultural backgrounds. But the reaction to Nikhil Ravishankar’s appointment raises questions.

Some Kiwis have a weird sense of ownership of major brands. They believe the person steering the ship – or in this case, flying the plane – must be “one of us”.

Why doesn’t Ravishankar fit that description? Were his high school years at Mount Albert Grammar not enough? Or his first-class honours degree at the University of Auckland? What about his job at Telecom? His leadership role at Vector? His five years at Air New Zealand, working under Greg Foran – the man he’ll soon replace?

An accomplished citizen shouldn’t have to prove they’re “Kiwi enough” to do a job. And I bet the airline’s shareholders couldn’t care less about the CEO’s accent.

If they want to challenge Ravishankar’s credentials, there are more rational grounds on which to do so. He’s not a pilot or an engineer. (Former CEO Rob Fyfe had trained in the air force.) His international experience is limited. (Christopher Luxon spent 16 years overseas.) He hasn’t been a CEO before. (Greg Foran was the boss of Walmart, the world’s highest-earning company.)

When someone is appointed to a top job, there will always be differing views on whether they’re ready to lead. But when Fyfe, Luxon and Foran were hired, their ethnicity did not undermine their credibility. They were judged on the quality of their CVs, and ultimately, their performance.

Air New Zealand’s board has clearly adopted that approach. Its formidable chair, Dame Therese Walsh, is not exactly someone you’d describe as “woke”. Ravishankar was picked from within the airline’s own ranks, standing out in a highly competitive field of global candidates.

The great irony is that the current boss of Air India is Campbell Wilson, who grew up in Sumner and went to Shirley Boys’ High. Does anyone have a problem with that?

It might seem novel to have an Indian-born CEO of a publicly-listed New Zealand company. However, this is only the beginning. By 2043, a quarter of our population will be of Asian descent. There will be more people from ethnic backgrounds in every job type, industry and sector.

To state the obvious: most Kiwis are not racist. New Zealand is a safe and accepting country for people from many cultures. But there are pockets of prejudice we can’t ignore.

You might say, “Who cares what the keyboard warriors write? They’re a vocal minority. If you don’t like the comments, don’t read them.” And perhaps Ravishankar hasn’t.

But you know who reads those comments? Young people from diverse backgrounds, trying to decide whether to aspire to leadership roles in their schools, workplaces and communities. Why on earth would they put their hand up, if they can expect to be hammered because of their cultural heritage?

Even the most offhand racial comments can totally change how someone thinks about their identity – and their future contribution to New Zealand’s economy and society.

That’s why it’s important to call out those comments when we read or hear them. And after Ravishankar’s appointment, many people did.

“I've met him and listened to him. He will be great in this role,” wrote Bill on social media.

“I provided feedback… and he took the time to respond and meet with me. I found his knowledge of digital, as well as airline operations, excellent. Big tick from me,” said Steve.

“Gee, we have an Indian looking after Air NZ. We have a Kiwi fellow as CEO of Air India,” mused William. “That’s a fair trade by me.”