Meet the many faces of our airport team

Claire Waghorn is passionate about how we can make travel and airports more sustainable. Find out how she’s helping make that happen in her role as Sustainability Transition Leader here.

James Parrott moved all the way from the UK for his role as Procurement Manager at Christchurch Airport, and thinks of Ōtautahi as a ‘holiday destination he can call home’. Find out what he loves about living and working here.

As an avid traveller, taking up a role at Christchurch Airport has been a natural fit for Jesse Aimer. Learn more about what he does day to day and why he’s proud to be making a difference on the ground. Meet Jesse.

Working as a full-time airport firefighter is a dream job for Emily Sutton. Discover the full variety of what she gets up to day-to-day, and what ignited her passion for firefighting. Meet Emily.

David Cooper joined the airport team in October 2023. He’s excited to be learning new things on the job every day as he helps to fine tune our park-to-plane customer journey. Meet David.

Natasha is part of the team that gets buildings and businesses off the ground here on the airport campus. 2023 was a particularly special year for Natasha, find out why here.

Meet Shweeta, a self-confessed people person who loves being the Airport Services Duty Manager for the night shift team. Find out what lead her to this role and what she likes to do in her downtime here.

Helen is one of our amazing volunteer Airport Ambassadors and enjoys engaging with visitors to the terminal. Learn more about Helen, her strong family connection to the airport, and her volunteer role here.

Meet Helen. She’s passionate about enhancing technology usage and providing our airport stakeholders with great user experiences. Learn more about her here.

Introducing our new Chief Executive… Justin. Born in Canada but now calls Ōtautahi Christchurch home, Justin shares with us some highlights of his career and his involvement with Lord of the Rings and China Southern Airlines here.

Craig heads up the Park to Plane team which strives to transform the mundane to the magical. From multiple underwater cage dives with sharks, to creating items on his lathe, he shares with us his experiences and what makes him tick here.

Meet Mike, our Apron and Wildlife Manager who splits his time between the airfield, the 10 acres where he breeds and trains dogs and the South Island high country. Find out more about the airfield’s special visitor, a New Zealand Falcon and other wildlife projects Mike works on here.

Meet Briar, our Partnership Manager - Trade Development & Aeronautical. She speaks four languages (including some Swahili) and has lived in seven countries, learn more about her interesting experiences and adventures and how this has set her up perfectly for her role here.

Martin is part of our innovative Digital Solutions and Data Technology team. From digitising manual business processes, to recording two albums as a guitarist, to co-founding an environmental management and sustainability consultancy business in 1998, Martin shares some of his interesting experiences here.

Rhys, GM of our Strategy and Sustainability team shares with us his favourite sustainability initiatives as well as what he's happiest doing when he's not working. Find out more about his experiences here. 

Sophie is part of our IOC team who are dubbed the ‘eyes and ears' of the airport. She shares with us her top five most interesting calls from the public and what gets her through night shift. To hear more about the interesting experiences of an IOC Controller, click here.

Meet Vai, a member of our Aviation Safety and Security team. He’s part of the airport dragon boating team, The Flying Dragons, but admits that Waka Ama has his heart. Learn about Waka Ama and Vai’s airport experiences here.

Hayley Rossiter, Firefighter on our Fire Service team, is currently organising the UFBA Firefighter Combat Challenge to be held at the airport on Saturday 14 March. Learn about the event and what makes this superwoman tick here. 

This summer Felicity Blackmore from our Strategy and Sustainability team is embarking on Tour Aotearoa, a 3,000km ride from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Why the long ride? Find out here.