Singapore Airlines chief executive Goh Choon Phong has stepped down from the Virgin Australia board in favour of his alternate, in a move that leaves Air New Zealand's Christopher Luxon as the only chief executive representative of the Australian carrier's three airline shareholders.
Virgin offered board seats to its airline shareholders after a $350 million capital raising in 2013. Photo: Ben Rushton
Mr Goh, Mr Luxon and Etihad Airways chief executive James Hogan had all joined the Virgin board when invitations were extended after their airlines participated in a $350 million capital raising in 2013. However, Abu Dhabi-based Mr Hogan stepped down in February in favour of senior Etihad executive Bruno Matheu after failing to attend a single board meeting out of seven during his tenure.
In contrast, Singapore-based Mr Goh had attended eight of 13 board meetings in the last financial year as well as Virgin's annual meeting in Brisbane last month, while Auckland-based Mr Luxon attended 12 of 13 meetings and the annual meeting. Mr Goh will be replaced on the board by Marvin Tan, Singapore Airlines's senior vice president cabin crew.
Air NZ is Virgin's largest shareholder with a 25.9 per cent stake, followed by Etihad with 25.1 per cent and Singapore Airlines with 22.2 per cent.
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A Singapore Airlines spokesman said Mr Goh had quit the Virgin board due to his other commitments. His exit comes as Singapore Airlines increasingly focuses closer to home after buying the shares in Tigerair Singapore that it did not already own and looks to strengthen ties between the low-cost carrier and its long-haul budget arm Scoot. Singapore Airlines has also signed a wide-ranging partnership deal with Germany's Lufthansa Group for flights between Singapore and Europe.
Air NZ, meanwhile, is expanding its reach in Australia and a spokeswoman said there were no plans for Mr Luxon to step down from the Virgin board. On Tuesday, Air NZ told its staff one of the key priorities for the executive team was to substantially reposition its presence in the Australian market as a core part of its revenue base.
"We have ambitious growth targets through to FY20, including the need to achieve significant long-haul growth from this region in the face of some strong competition," Air NZ chief sales and commercial officer Cam Wallace said in an internal memo. "To achieve this growth we will be adopting a state by state strategy and investing significantly in Victoria, South Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia."
Air NZ will be establishing a new regional general manager Australia role in the new year to reflect its elevated presence in the market and its drive to establish Auckland as an Australasian hub for long-haul flights to North and South America. It has engaged an executive search firm to identify external candidates but it is also accepting internal applications.
Air NZ was also a key sponsor of a cocktail function held by industry lobby group Tourism & Transport Forum in Sydney on Wednesday evening that included speeches from Tourism and International Education Minister Richard Colbeck and new Tourism Australia chairman Tony South.