Air New Zealand boss Greg Foran stresses the power of listening to workers on the frontline. Photo / Supplied
Air New Zealand boss Greg Foran stresses the power of listening to workers on the frontline. Photo / Supplied
Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran has revealed he flew back from the US last week with rival Singapore Airlines.
And he wasn't shy about sharing what it does better.
Foran, who was speaking to the US Business Summit, had earlier shared some of the lessons he learned fromUS retailing legends Sam Walton and Jack Shewmaker.
Before joining Air New Zealand, Foran was chief executive of Walmart US division from 2014 to 2019.
In his speech to the Summit he stressed the power of listening to workers on the frontline.
A recent example of that was sitting in on an inflight service on a trip home from Sydney a week ago.
It was a packed plane, he said.
"The good news was that we had enough beef and chicken. We didn't even run out of the vegetarian pasta. On the other hand I found out we didn't have enough arrival cards due to us increasingly having full flights."
Another Walmart lesson was the value of visiting rival stores with a view to understanding what they did better.
Sam Walton was famous for doing that and then "shamelessly adopting the best ideas for his own stores", Foran said. "Which is why I flew back last week on a Singapore Airlines flight. I wanted to see what they're doing better than us."
So what does Singapore Airlines do better than Air New Zealand?
Foran was asked by event moderator Fran O'Sullivan to elaborate on what he had learned.
"The answer is quite a lot to be honest," he said. "The product on our wide-bodied planes is now the best part of 20 years old."
Having lived out of New Zealand for 35 years Foran said he would travel home on Air NZ once a year.
"Over the last few years I'd be travelling out of the US - and I'd be sitting up the front [business class] and I'd go this was pretty good seven years ago, 10 years ago. It's not so good today," he said.
"I've done three international trips in the last week and it's definitely outdated," he said of Air NZ's Business Class product.
"We've got to do something with that seating configuration, with the space that's available.
"I feel a bit too side-on when it takes off. I can't look out the window ... there's a whole bunch of things around that."
Air New Zealand boss Greg Foran recently flew Singapore Airlines, and he wasn't shy about sharing what it does better. Photo / Supplied
Air New Zealand recently revealed that, over the next two years, it will start taking delivery of a new tranche of Dreamliners which will come especially fitted for ultra-long-range flights.
They will have around 220 seats and be fitted with what Foran said will be world-leading new business class seats.
Meanwhile, Foran did have some praise for his own team.
"What I do think we do particularly well is we've held on to the service ethic," he said.
"It's been tough. You had to let go a third of your workforce. But I think we've held the spirit of the company together and most people that were with us still want to be with us."
