Air New Zealand posted NZ$24 million (US$12.1 million) in net profit after tax as it shared its results for six-month period ended 31 December 2008.

Published: 27 Feb 2009

Air New Zealand posted NZ$24 million (US$12.1 million) in net profit after tax as it shared its results for six-month period ended 31 December 2008.

Net profit after tax was down 79 percent. Operating revenue increased by 3.7 percent or NZ$87 million on the same period last year to NZ$2.4 billion for the first half of the year. Foreign exchange movements contributed to NZ$75 million of this improvement.

Passenger numbers declined 4.3 percent to 6.3 million, but ANZ’s premium economy and business premier products helped boost yield 12.3 percent on long-haul routes and 6.4 percent on regional routes. Overall yield increased 7.5 percent to NZ13.9 cents.

Air New Zealand chairman John Palmer said the past six months has been one of the toughest periods airlines have faced.

“Fuel costs reached unprecedented levels in 2008, with the average spot price increasing 36 percent on the same financial period last year adding an extra $211 million to the fuel bill. This combined with the deterioration in both passenger and cargo demand, as the global credit crisis intensified, has seen the airline deliver an unsatisfactory financial result, despite the management team’s best efforts.”

Chief executive Officer Rob Fyfe said the key priority remains closely matching supply to demand, while striving to be the market share leader in all our chosen markets.

“In the first half of 2009, we have taken a proactive approach to capacity management that has been more agile and disciplined than in past industry downturns. In these challenging times, it is not the largest airlines that will outperform, but the ones most responsive to change.

“In the last quarter of the financial year we aim to reduce long haul capacity by 14 percent compared with the same period last year.

Ends