Growth in short-haul flights and trips across the Tasman and Pacific are factors in Air New Zealand’s strong interim $232 million after tax profit.
The half-year result puts the airline on track for its second highest profit in company history.
Its best ever full-year pre-tax profit of $663 million was recorded in 2016.
Other highlights include operating revenue of $2.7 billion and 8.5 million passengers carried over the period.
The board have approved an interim dividend of 11.0 cents per share. It’s a 10% increase on the prior period and the highest ordinary interim dividend in the airline’s history.
The result was driven by operating revenue growth of 5.6%.
Passenger revenue also reached an all-time record for an interim result, at $2.3 billion.
Chairman Tony Carter says it’s a great performance demonstrating the airline’s resilience in the face of an 18% increase in fuel price.
“This high quality interim performance was driven by robust passenger demand and revenue growth, reflecting the airline’s strong position in New Zealand and throughout our Pacific Rim network.”
Chief executive Christopher Luxon says 2018 is shaping up to be another year of growth for Air New Zealand.
The airline has performed well despite severe weather events, the fuel pipeline disruption and unscheduled engine maintenance on some of the Boeing 787-9 aircraft, he says.
“The domestic market continues to show strength driven by the New Zealand economy as well as inbound tourism, and we will be increasing capacity approximately 6% across our regional and jet services to support that demand over the second half of the financial year.
“The Trans-Tasman and Pacific Island routes have also responded strongly to additional wide-body services and targeted capacity increases.
“Finally, our alliance partnerships continue to drive value across our international long-haul network, and have been a key factor in our ability to effectively compete against much larger airlines,” Luxon says.
The airline also announced the launch of a new direct service to Taipei, beginning in November 2018.
It will become the airline’s seventh destination in Asia.
