Air NZ, while govt owned, operates on the same cost-profit base as any other public company. You can buy shares in it on Monday morning, if you want to. If you buy enough, you'll get a seat on the board. The NZ govt does not intervene in Air NZ policies and activities.*
It seems from recent press releases that many people think "government owned" is the same thing as "supported by government handouts and policies". In the case of Air NZ, that isn't true. The government is simply a shareholder in a public company.
* Exception 1: the NZ government re-floated the airline after the Ansett debacle. That fiasco was conducted under the leadership of a private equity owner, much like the consortium under Geoff Dixon that tried and failed to take over Qantas in recent times.
Exception 2: Air NZ carried Australian troops to the middle east in 2007, at a time when NZ government's policy was not to support that war. The Labour PM, Helen Clark, publicly stated that the airline should not be bidding for these war contracts. This intervention hindered, rather than helped, the airline.