Air NZ passenger numbers fall as jet fuel price rises hit
However revenue increased on long-haul routes.
Air New Zealand reported a 2% decline in passenger numbers for June compared to the previous year, attributed to the sharp rise in jet fuel prices due to the Middle East conflict. Despite an overall 1.3% increase in group seat capacity, both long-haul and domestic available seat kilometres dropped, with long-haul down by 0.5% and domestic down by 3.6%.
This drop in capacity led to a 2.2% increase in revenue per available seat (RASK). The addition of two new A321 aircraft resulted in a 3.6% increase in short-haul international capacity, though its RASK fell by 1.7%. However, this decline was counterbalanced by a 5.7% revenue gain in long-haul routes. Asian long-haul networks saw a 1.3% rise in demand, while traffic from the Americas declined by 2.2%.
The company's final Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was returned from storage in early July and is expected to alleviate long-haul capacity constraints, with an additional two Dreamliners to be added to the fleet by year's end.
Written by urgent.news from RNZ Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
