For in-flight service manager Te Aorere Redmond (Ngai Tu\u016bhoe), the flight, a tribute to 50 years of Te Wiki o Te Reo M\u0101ori (M\u0101ori Language Week) was a milestone, but not a departure from his standard practice. He sees reo and tikanga as part of everyday service, not a special add-on.<\/p>\n
Redmond recalls the first time he heard te reo spoken on a plane. He was in his early 20s, flying to the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt really gave me that sense of belonging,\u201d he said. \u201cFor me, te reo M\u0101ori is our culture, it\u2019s beautiful. Hearing it on board set the tone. I felt safe, I felt like I could connect authentically with the crew.\u201d<\/p>\n
He begins every flight in reo: \u201cM\u014drena\u201d in the morning, \u201ckia ora\u201d any time. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt sets the tone. It tells people they\u2019re in a safe space. They know, okay, this is going to be a good flight.<\/p>\n
You have less than 30 seconds to make that connection with passengers,\u201d he said. \u201cOn the marae, we call it manaakitanga \u2014 care and safety, looking after people, building trust. That\u2019s what I try to do every time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Redmond believes manaakitanga defines Air New Zealand\u2019s kaupapa.<\/p>\n
\u201cSafety is the first job of an airline. But once that\u2019s in place, manaakitanga is next. Looking after people as you would on the marae,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
That, he added, means more than topping up a drink. \u201cIf I see someone uneasy, I\u2019ll go and check in with them. It\u2019s holistic. It\u2019s about making sure people feel safe, valued, cared for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manaakitanga anchors his daily crew briefings. \u201cIt gives us purpose,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Redmond credits those who normalised reo in the cabin before him. \u201cAll the foundational work was done before I joined. I\u2019m standing on their shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n
That groundwork means he has faced little resistance. \u201cI\u2019ve never had pushback because I\u2019m the first voice they hear. I greet them, I build trust, I use humour. Passengers respond positively. They get it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The impact, Redmond believes, extends beyond a single flight.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur next generation \u2013 that\u2019s my biggest why. I want them to grow up in a world where te reo is living and thriving at their national carrier. When kids hear te reo on board, it normalises it. It shows them it belongs in every space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer, Kiri Hannifin, said the service captured the airline\u2019s passion for championing the language.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur crew carry te reo M\u0101ori with them all over the world, making it part of the journey wherever we fly. This special flight was our way of celebrating both the language itself and 50 years of Te Wiki o Te Reo M\u0101ori, a milestone for Aotearoa that we are incredibly proud to honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said it was 11 years since customer-facing crew first began greeting customers with \u2018kia ora\u2019, and today te reo M\u0101ori was woven throughout the inflight experience. <\/p>\n
\u201cCrew who can k\u014drero wear the Tohu Reo pin so customers can identify them; our international flights feature a dedicated \u2018Te Ao M\u0101ori\u2019 category on inflight entertainment; and our values are expressed through whakatauk\u012b (M\u0101ori proverbs).\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, as the first passengers on Flight NZ634 filed down the aisle, Redmond\u2019s vision became real: a full plane, crewed by M\u0101ori, delivering service in te reo without hesitation.<\/p>\n
For him, it was manaakitanga in motion.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn board, it\u2019s like we\u2019re at the marae,\u201d he said. \u201cExcept we\u2019re flying through the sky.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For in-flight service manager Te Aorere Redmond (Ngai Tu\u016bhoe), the flight, a tribute to 50 years of Te…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32047,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[836,68,3088,70,776,22638,3259,2720,111,43,139,69,23125,8690,686,102],"class_list":{"0":"post-32046","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-836","9":"tag-air","10":"tag-commercial","11":"tag-flight","12":"tag-language","13":"tag-marks","14":"tag-milestone","15":"tag-mori","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nz","20":"tag-reo","21":"tag-te","22":"tag-week","23":"tag-with"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32046","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32046"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32046\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32046"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32046"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32046"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}