“Inspirational leadership” through a period of extraordinary economic turbulence has seen Air New Zealand ceo Rob Fyfe named as the country’s top business executive for 2009.

The honour was announced last night at the annual Deloitte Management magazine Top 200 Company Awards, now in their 20th year.

The Air New Zealand high-flyer took the title ahead of Jim Delegat, managing director at Delegat’s Group, and Transpower New Zealand chief executive Patrick Strange.