The Board of Christchurch International Airport Ltd appointed Justin Watson as the airport's new chief executive.
Director and chair of the board’s people, culture and safety committee, Sarah Ottrey, said Watson will take over on January 1.
Watson is the airport’s chief aeronautical and commercial officer and was selected from a pool of "exceptional candidates", Ottrey said.
The appointment comes as Malcolm Johns prepares to step down as chief executive on December 31 after nine years at the helm.
Ottrey said: "I take this opportunity to thank (Johns) for his service over the past nine years. We will formally farewell him in late February."
Ottrey said Watson grew up in Christchurch and has worked for Tourism New Zealand, where he marketed the country on the global stage.
"Justin has been a key leader in this company’s strategy activation over the past decade and has particular strengths and experience in destination marketing, customer focus, working with our airline partners and understanding Christchurch," Ottrey said.
"He will continue to build our proposition and reputation across these and our core strategic priorities.
"We are very proud of what our high-performing team has achieved over what has been a very challenging decade."
Seventy-five per cent of Christchurch International Airport Ltd is owned by Christchurch City Council through its subsidiary Christchurch City Holdings Ltd, while the government owns the other 25 per cent.
"So many aspects of what the team does positively impacts our company, our community, our customers, our sector, our country and in some cases the global aviation sector.
"We know Justin will lead and support the team to keep doing that," Ottrey said.
