Air New Zealand loads up in August, shares gain

Air New Zealand loads up in August, shares gain

By Peter Kerr

Sept. 21 (BusinessDesk) – Air New Zealand Ltd., the national airline, increased passengers carried by 5.9% to 978,000 in August compared to a year earlier. The shares rose 0.8% to $1.30.

Short haul passenger numbers gained 6% to 849,000 compared to August 2009, while long-haul numbers rose 5.7% to 129,000. Tasman/Pacific demand was 9.5% higher after capacity was increased by 6.5%. The Tasman/Pacific load factor increased 2.2% on August 2009 to 82%. Load factor is the percentage of passengers to seats relative to distance flown,

The group’s load factor increased 1.5 percentage points to 81.9%, while its group-wide yields, or revenue per passenger per kilometer travelled increased by 8.9% compared to last August.

The airline said that short haul yields on its domestic market fell 1.1% between the two Augusts, as the company lowered fares and stimulated demand.

New Zealand’s tourism was bolstered by an inflow of Chinese visitors last month, according to government data, with short-term visitor arrivals up 4% to 168,100 in August, compared to the same month a year earlier.

(BusinessDesk)

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