Air NZ long-haul passenger slump extends into April

Air New Zealand’s long-haul passenger volumes extended their slump into April led by an 18% decline in numbers on routes through Asia, Japan and the UK.

The national carrier’s long-haul passenger numbers fell 12% last month and are 9% lower in the financial year-to-date, the company said in a statement. Short-haul slipped 4.7%. The total number of people carried fell to 971,000 from 1 million in the previous year.      

The company said there were a number of cancellations on Japanese routes due to fears an influenza pandemic was sweeping the world though there was unlikely to be much of a financial impact on the airline. The Easter holiday break, a peak travel period, wasn’t enough to lift passenger numbers.     

The airline continued to reduce capacity by changing schedules, trimming flights and using smaller aircraft. It lifted the group load factor 4.5 points from April the previous year, and year-to-date, the group load factor dropped 0.8 points.      

Shares in the carrier fell unchanged at $1.09 on the NZX 50 Index today, and have gained 11% in the year-to-date.  

Businesswire.co.nz

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