general counsel and GM customer engagement
Katie Bhreatnach has played a significant role in leading Airways New Zealand’s legal function and wider customer engagement group during an incredibly challenging time during COVID-19.
Since Bhreatnach joined Airways in July 2019, she has overhauled the legal function, bringing in and nurturing new talent and lifting performance materially. Notable achievements over the past 12 months also include:
- building a business case to get organisational buy organizational in for and then launching a new-cloud based contract and matter management software;
- developing an entirely new suite of templates better tailored to support Airways’ businesses and to drive business strategy); and
- introducing business focused SLAs and KPIs including reporting and metrics.
Bhreatnach’s leadership across a wide range of roles has resulted in material improvements in engagement, and in the company’s relationship with Auckland Airport and the Civil Aviation Authority. She has also managed with QC’s two significant pieces of litigation faced by the organisation as well as guided the executive and board through complex multiparty processes. All of these have been achieved in a time of unprecedented change for the aviation sector and the business, with Airways seeing its 26 passenger airlines go down to one, with a 98% drop in revenue.
