New Civil Aviation Authority boss on prosecuting change and building a fairer system
It is an organisation some in the sector have had little love for. But can the Civil Aviation Authority’s new chief help open a new chapter?
Kane Patena told the Herald the CAA wanted to do more to get more pilots and engineers certified and working, but did not always have the tools to do the job.
His appointment as CAA director and chief executive was keenly awaited, happening shortly before the Aviation Industry Association (AIANZ) summit in September.
He was previously a deputy chief executive at WorkSafe New Zealand, director of Land Transport, and partner with law firm Meredith Connell. As a prosecutor spending time in courthouses, he saw sides of society many have not.
The CAA has faced trouble in recent years with at times high staff turnover, complaints of inconsistent audits, and toxic workplace and bullying allegations.
At the September summit, AIANZ acting president Gordon Alexander suggested the authority was narrow-minded and obsessed with enforcement.
The next day, Patena defended changes the CAA had made. But he also said he wouldn’t hesitate to suggest people who undermined progress reconsider where they work.
And there was a nasty recent twist when former police executive Chris de Wattignar, who had a senior CAA aviation security job, was entangled in the Jevon McSkimming scandal. De Wattignar quit, but still left behind some awkward questions for the CAA.
Three months into the job, Patena met with the Herald just after an unexpected Airbus A320 software issue caused a weekend of drama at airports worldwide.
He indicated he’d been trying to get a steer on what the sector wanted after years of sometimes frosty relations.
“When I was appointed into the role, I was brought in under a mandate for change. I’ve spent the last three months getting out and talking to our staff. I’ve also spent a lot of time getting out and speaking to the sector and industry as well to understand what their perspectives are.”
The sector is complex but many in it seem to have welcomed the Aviation Action Plan, released in September.
James Meager, the minister responsible for aviation, released a plan which appeared by Government standards to be light on jargon and strong on deadlines.
And in October, the Permanent Aviation Council membership was announced, bringing together 14 leaders from across the public and private sector.
But can aviation keep up the momentum, or will it backslide into a quagmire of bureaucracy and dysfunction?
“There are some common themes about where and how I think we can improve, how we regulate and how we perform,” Patena said.
“The first is around us being more responsive to the sector needs. The second is being more timely, particularly with things like certifications, where we’re not where we need to be.
“The third is being consistent in how we make decisions so that they’re not a surprise to the sector. And the fourth is being able to engage more with the sector.”
Patena said he got a strong impression the sector wanted to work with the CAA to help it be an effective, credible regulator.
Some airlines wondered why the CAA did not accept maintenance and qualifications from peer countries as equivalent to New Zealand, especially given skill shortages.
“I accept that the certification, timeliness and the approach isn’t where we want it to be. That’s not because the staff at CAA aren’t working exceptionally hard. They are.
“The reality is, they don’t have the tools to be at their absolute best, although I know that they’re doing a really good job with the tools that they’ve got.”
He said the CAA strategy would try to accelerate updates to rules to be consistent with global standards, and with regulators in other jurisdictions.
“We’re not the only aviation regulator that sets standards. We’re part of a global network.”
Another part of the strategy, around business transformation, focused on how the CAA could digitise and automate processes so businesses could more easily achieve their certification needs.
Pilot training is a hot issue.
“I’ve heard different views about pilot training. One of the areas that we are going to be focused on is how we can bring clarity to that, how we can make sure that the pilot training and the pathway through is able to meet the various needs of commercial airlines, for example, versus regional airlines or tourism operators.”
The AIANZ welcomed the action plan’s promise of policy change to address systemic pilot training issues, but has also said an “outdated student loan cap” rather than any CAA issue was the main barrier to aspiring young Kiwis becoming pilots.
In late November, regional airline Sunair was given the all-clear to fly more than four months after the CAA grounded it.
Sunair chief executive Doug Roberts said questions must be raised about the process, and the AIANZ felt the same way.
“Regional connectivity is really important, both for communities and for the economy more generally,” Patena said. “I get it. I’ve run businesses before and I understand the pressure.”
Patena said the sector’s success depended on a solid safety and security foundation.
“The sector, from what I understand, don’t want us to compromise that either. But there are ways I think that we can help with regional connectivity.”
The Aviation Action Plan called for the CAA to ensure the aviation funding model became more efficient while maintaining current levels of safety and security.
The action plan called on other groups to help regional airlines too. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment was told to support technology investment to enable interlining deals, of the sort Air New Zealand and Air Chathams normalised in October.
A persistent irritation for airlines has been how much they are charged by airports, state-owned enterprises and the CAA to use airport infrastructure and services.
“Civil Aviation’s revenue is collected through fees, charges, and levies, the operators in the system. So the more we can drive efficiencies in how we operate, the less revenue that we need to collect from people who have to operate in the system,” Patena said.
“It’s not going to be the silver bullet ... but the aviation sector and the public deserve value for money, and they deserve a Civil Aviation Authority that is focused on efficiency.”
Any changes to the funding model were ultimately for the Government to make, Patena said.
“At the moment, what we know is that the Government is committed to a user-pays model, so we’re working within that.”
But recent events were a chance for the CAA to seriously assess how it collected fees, and the fairest ways to do that.
Patena indicated the CAA should be clear about what services it provided, and uphold high standards, without being overbearing or oppressive.
“It’s an obligation on us to make sure that we are able to deliver those security services as efficiently as we can, but ultimately the costs will be what they will be to deliver those services.”
If you were counting down the days to the end of his term, you’d be at about four years and eight months by now.
That’s in a sector where some big projects take decades, and where an unexpected outage can in minutes throw the whole industry into disarray.
The former prosecutor will be expected to achieve much for the airlines, pilots, and others who want a fair and transparent regulator.
We may have to wait until 2030 to hear their verdict – but if he doesn’t listen to them, you can be sure of more drama in the meantime.
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
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