Ashley Smout joined Airways New Zealand in 1999 as Chief Operating Officer ,responsible for all the domestic operations of Airways including business planning and strategy development. In September 2002 he was appointed Chief Executive Officer. Airways was one of the first Air Navigation Service providers to be commercialised, and since the late 1990’s has been recognised as one of the most cost-efficient and customer responsive ANS companies in the industry. This culminated in the IATA Eagle Award in 2003.
Prior to starting with Airways, Ashley Smout held various marketing and management positions with both New Zealand and international companies, and has worked and lived in Asia.