Airline Maintenance Planner (Forward Planner)

Air New Zealand Limited; Christchurch; Hybrid; NZD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous staff travel benefits

FlexiLeave

Learning culture and development

Employee discounts

KiwiSaver and FlexiSaver

Job summary

Air New Zealand Limited is seeking a Forward Planner in Christchurch to coordinate and plan maintenance activities, ensuring CAANZ compliance and aircraft availability. You’ll produce integrated maintenance plans across horizons and partner with MROs to deliver efficient work packages.

The role emphasizes collaboration across Tech Ops, Supply Chain and Engineering, with a focus on continuous improvement and strong organisational skills.

Qualifications

• Experience in aircraft maintenance planning or related aviation environment.
• Understanding of CAANZ regulatory requirements.
• Experience with SAP or similar planning systems is a plus.
• Strong organisational skills with ability to manage priorities.
• Excellent communication and collaborative approach to working with teams.
• Proactive mindset with focus on continuous improvement.

Responsibilities

• Deliver long-range maintenance planning across end-to-end horizons to balance operations and availability.
• Develop integrated maintenance plans for light and heavy maintenance activities.
• Create and issue maintenance work packages for MROs, including heavy maintenance visits.
• Plan major out-of-phase maintenance and modification programs to optimise demand.
• Collaborate across Engineering, Maintenance, Supply Chain, and other Tech Ops functions.
• Identify opportunities for process improvement and operational efficiency.

Skills

Aircraft maintenance planning

CAANZ regulatory knowledge

SAP experience

Organisational skills

Communication skills

Continuous improvement

Tools

SAP

Job description

Kia ora!

Help shape the long-term availability of one of New Zealand's most important fleets. As a Forward Planner, you'll play a vital role in ensuring our aircraft are ready to fly safely, efficiently and on schedule. Your planning will directly support fleet availability, operational performance, commercial outcomes, and the experience we deliver to our customers every day.

As part of the Engineering Planning Chapter, you'll work within one of our Maintenance Planning Squads. Air New Zealand is home to some of the industry's most talented aviation professionals, working together to solve complex challenges and keep our fleet operating at its best. This is an opportunity to grow your planning capability while making a meaningful impact across Tech Ops.

About the role

In this role, you'll support the delivery of Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand (CAANZ) Part 119 planning responsibilities by coordinating, scheduling and planning significant maintenance activities. Working closely with stakeholders across Tech Ops, you'll contribute to integrated maintenance plans that maximise aircraft availability while ensuring regulatory compliance, airworthiness and efficient use of maintenance resources.

How you'll make an impact

• Deliver long-range maintenance planning across end-to-end maintenance horizons, balancing operational requirements, aircraft availability and commercial outcomes
• Develop integrated maintenance plans covering both Light and Heavy Maintenance activities, ensuring maintenance requirements are effectively sequenced and coordinated
• Develop and issue maintenance work packages for Maintenance Repair Organisations (MROs), including Heavy Maintenance Visits, retrofit programmes, structural inspections and other significant maintenance events
• Proactively plan major out-of-phase maintenance activities, including modification programmes, deferred maintenance and component stagger plans to improve aircraft availability and optimise maintenance demand
• Partner with Chapter and Squad members to identify opportunities for continuous improvement, simplifying planning processes and improving operational and commercial outcomes
• Build strong relationships across Engineering, Maintenance, Supply Chain, Network Planning, and other Tech Ops functions to deliver integrated maintenance plans that support safe, reliable and efficient aircraft operations.

What we're looking for

• Experience in aircraft maintenance planning, engineering, maintenance, or a related aviation environment
• An understanding of aircraft maintenance programmes and CAANZ regulatory requirements.
• Experience using SAP or similar enterprise planning systems would be advantageous.
• Strong organisational skills with the ability to manage competing priorities across multiple planning horizons
• Excellent communication skills, attention to detail and a collaborative approach to working across multiple teams
• A proactive mindset with a passion for continuous improvement, solving complex operational problems and delivering quality outcomes.

If you meet the majority of the criteria and are excited by the opportunity, we'd love to hear from you.

What we can offer you

We want our people to live their best lives and access great benefits that support their lives outside work.

• Generous staff travel benefits for you, your friends, and your whānau
• FlexiLeave, giving you the option to purchase up to four additional weeks of leave each year
• A learning culture that supports your growth through meaningful development opportunities and on-the-job learning
• Access to a wide range of employee discounts, wellbeing resources, and healthcare options
• KiwiSaver and FlexiSaver with employer contributions, along with long service leave recognition.

Ready for take-off?

If you're looking for an opportunity to influence the long-term availability and performance of our fleet, work alongside experienced aviation professionals and continue developing your planning expertise, we'd love to hear from you. Bring your skills, curiosity, and passion for aviation, and help shape the future of Air New Zealand.

Please note: You must hold current and valid New Zealand working rights at the time of application to be considered for this role.

Applications close Tuesday 13th October 2026.

Additional Information

At Air New Zealand, we are proudly committed to diversity, equity and inclusion and believe in creating a truly inclusive workplace where everyone can be themselves and thrive. Our people are our greatest asset – because while everything else we do in our operation can be replicated by our competitors, it is our people that truly set us apart. We are firm believers in celebrating the differences and diversity of thought our people bring to their roles.

Whāia te pae tawhiti kia tata. Ko te pae tata whakamaua, kia tina.

"Seek to bring distant horizons closer. Once near, seize them and make them your reality."