Passenger numbers down at Air New Zealand
Air New Zealand Limited (AIZ) reported a 0.6% drop in passenger numbers during November compared to the previous corresponding period. The company said demand fell 3.7% and capacity dropped 10.2%, increasing the group load factor by 5.4%.
Air New Zealand short haul passenger numbers decreased by 0.2%, while demand in the domestic market increased 4.3% and the load factor rose to 77.5% as capacity was reduced by 3%.
The company said downsizing to smaller aircraft, reduced frequencies on some sectors and the withdrawal of Trans Tasman flights from Hamilton and Dunedin were the primary reasons for Tasman / Pacific capacity being reduced by 17.4%. This, Air New Zealand said, resulted in the load factor increasing by 8.8 percentage points to 79.9%.
Air New Zealand said long haul passenger numbers decreased by 3.1% on last year, while on North America / UK routes demand rose 3.3% on similar capacity to last November.
The company said capacity on the Asia / Japan / UK routes was reduced by 18.2% in response to a 12.9% decline in demand, resulting in loads increasing by 4.9 percentage points to 80.5%.
Group-wide yields for the year to date were down 10.6% on the same period last year and year to date short haul yields were down 10.4%, with their respective long haul yields were down by 13.5%.
Air New Zealand launched its first ever service between Rotorua and Sydney earlier this month and said it would operate the service twice weekly.
As at 1056 AEDT, Air New Zealand shares were trading at 97c.
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