\u201cCurrently there are 22 plus two who have been appointed but not yet started, bringing the total to 24.\u201d<\/p>\n
Airways said it was working through recruitment processes to fill current safety and assurance team vacancies.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is to have new team members appointed by early 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Public Service Commission measured unplanned turnover, the rate at which organisations lost permanent staff for reasons such as resignations, retirements and dismissals. <\/p>\n
It said the public sector average for 2025 was 9.9%, down from 11.9% in 2024 and a peak of 17.3% in 2022.<\/p>\n
The Airways team had a turnover rate of 32%.<\/p>\n
The Aviation Industry Association (AIANZ) said it was concerned at the proportion of Airways safety and assurance team staff who resigned and left this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese roles are critical to the confidence of the industry and travelling public,\u201d AIANZ chief executive Simon Wallace said.<\/p>\n
\u201cConfidence in the Airways Corporation\u2019s ability to deliver critical services is fundamental to the commercial aviation sector,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is especially the case at a time when we are facing ever-increasing levies and other charges<\/a> including those from Airways.\u201d<\/p>\n Jamie Gray, Airways GM for people and partnerships, said the safety and assurance function had a broad range of responsibilities.<\/p>\n Those included operational safety, health, safety and wellbeing and resilience management.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we cannot comment on matters relating to our individual employees, what we can say is that the people who left were across different career levels and different teams within the safety and assurance function,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n He added: \u201cImportantly, staffing levels were not reduced to a point where critical work was unable to be delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n Gray said safety was embedded across all levels of Airways and not limited to the team in question.<\/p>\n \u201cWe operate under the \u2018three lines of defence\u2019 risk governance model, where operational units take ownership and accountability for safety.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the safety and assurance team provided levels of defence with compliance and monitoring functions, as well as managing audits and investigations. <\/p>\n \u201cThis ensures that we are always able to operate safely and are not reliant on individuals to maintain critical safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Airways on Wednesday said it signed an agreement with Airservices Australia to boost collaboration on enhancing air-traffic services safety, efficiency and resilience.<\/p>\n Under the agreement, Airways and Airservices would share knowledge and best practices. <\/p>\n Airways said Airservices\u2019 air traffic controller (ATC) cohorts trained in New Zealand and Airservices used Airways\u2019 mobile ATC simulators for training in dispersed locations. <\/p>\n