Air New Zealand Makes Record Full Year Profit

Air New Zealand announced a record net profit for the financial year to June 30, on strong inbound tourism.

Net annual profit was NZD$463 million (USD$338.5 million), a 42 percent increase from last year’s NZD$327 million. Earnings before tax were NZD$663 million, up 40 percent from 2015.

Operating revenue for the period was NZD$5.23 billion, a rise of 8.2 percent.

Load factor fell by one percentage point to 80.6 percent.

During the year Air New Zealand increased capacity in available seat km terms by 8.5 percent domestically and 16 percent on long-haul international as it pushed to benefit from the strong tourism inflows to the country.

Looking ahead to 2017, the airline plans to increase domestic capacity by a further 7-9 percent and long-haul international by 4-6 percent.

International airlines are also adding capacity to meet the strong tourism demand in New Zealand.

“There’s no doubt customers have more choice but we are confident that we have the right pricing, products and services to stay a step ahead of the competition as we grow our business at home and overseas,” chief executive Christopher Luxon said.

The company will pay a Company Performance Bonus of up to NZD$2,500 to 8,200 staff who do not have other incentive clauses in their employment agreement.