Long-serving Dunedin International Airport chief executive John McCall is looking forward to some adventures when he retires next year.
Mr McCall (66) has announced he will depart on March 31 after more than 26 years with the company.
Reflecting on his lengthy and ''immensely enjoyable'' tenure, he said the decision had not been sudden.
When he turned 65, he decided he would work for a couple more years and believed it was helpful to everyone, including himself, to slowly move away.
Being at the airport had been fun but it had to ''come to an end at some stage'' and he would work with the company's chairman, Stuart McLauchlan, and the board to help his successor settle in.
Mr McCall acknowledged retirement would be a big change after a ''24/7'' role, but is looking forward to spending more time with family and sailing in the Marlborough Sounds.
Originally from North Canterbury, Mr McCall spent some years in Marlborough and moved south in 1981, to work for Arthur Ellis and Co as general manager of manufacturing. When Arthur Ellis moved to Christchurch, he decided to stay in Dunedin.
The opportunity arose to handle the restructuring and transition of the city's airport from a non-commercial local and central government enterprise to a public corporate entity.
He started work on November 1, 1988, and, a year later, the company bought the airport's assets from the Dunedin Airport Authority.
The first 10 years of Mr McCall's tenure were about ''getting the business to where it needed to be''.
The airport had run-down assets and a ''host of issues''. Those jobs were tackled and, at the same time, a human resources base was built.
There was now a ''fantastic team'' of people and he could go home at night, or on holiday, and know that ''everything's going to go sweet and, if something does go sour, I know the people are here that actually can do the work''.
Mr McCall enjoyed his involvement in the wider aviation industry, both nationally and internationally.
He is a past president of the Aviation Industry Association of New Zealand and is on the board of the New Zealand Airports Association.
One of the most interesting factors had been the involvement with new airlines ''coming in and some of them going out''.
One of the biggest challenges had been setting fees and charges with the airlines, which was a contentious issue, while there had also been resource consent matters, as the airport operated in a ''very sensitive'' environment.
Asked his thoughts on the future of the airport, he said it was an extremely important piece of city and regional infrastructure.
It could deliver a lot more than it was delivering now, but needed the economy to drive it, he said.
