31 Jul 2019

Luxon staying silent on preferred prime minister poll result

5:36 pm on 31 July 2019

The outgoing head of Air New Zealand says it's too soon to say if his appearance in a recent political poll might influence his future ambitions.

CEO Air NZ

Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller

The latest One News Colmar Brunton poll shows one percent of those polled would like to see Christopher Luxon as prime minister.

He announced last month he would step down as the airline's chief executive, and was in Nelson today to speak to the business community on the future of regional air services.

He had hinted earlier at a political career aligned with National.

Mr Luxon told RNZ today that while there'll be a time in the future to comment on a future direction, right now he remains focused on his role with the airline.

"I honestly have no comment about that and that's because I'm really trying to do my job at the moment, which I owe it to 12,500 New Zealanders to our investors, and to our staff, and our team to actually just keep being really focused on Air New Zealand," he said.

"So there'll be a time for me to comment around all of that, but unfortunately it's not going to be today."

He will step down from day-to-day leadership of the airline in September.

Mr Luxon previously stated he was going to take the summer off and keep his options open.

"I want to take December and actually think very clearly and intentionally about what I want to do next," he said, adding he was also interested in working in the not-for-profit sector, or would look to move overseas if he decided to continue his career in business.

He said the speculation about whether or not he would stand for the National Party was only that, although he was not ruling it out.

During the National Party's caucus reshuffle, Mr Bridges said he had a "brief" conversation with Mr Luxon, but told reporters he couldn't remember who initiated the call and would not give any more detail.

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