Summary
- Air Recent Zealand had an exceptional financial yr in 2023, with high revenue and earnings, however the airline acknowledges that replicating this performance will likely be difficult because of different market conditions.
- The airline’s monthly update for August shows positive growth in passenger numbers, particularly in long-haul international flights, which experienced a major capability boost.
- Short-haul traffic accounted for nearly all of the airline’s total traffic, but the rise in capability and passengers on long-haul flights, particularly to Asia, shows promising growth in that segment.
Within the financial yr that ended June 30, 2023, Air Recent Zealand posted statutory earnings of NZ$574 million ($344m) and carried 15.8 million passengers. Two months into the brand new financial yr, it has carried 2.5 million passengers and appears to be on the road to a different excellent yr, buoyed by a surge in international long-haul traffic.
A difficult yr to repeat
Air Recent Zealand set high expectations when it delivered NZ$6.3 billion ($3.8b) in revenue and statutory earnings of NZ$574 million in FY23. In September, the airline’s Chair, Dame Therese Walsh, said that the 2023 financial yr was particularly unique with significant customer demand, constrained market capability and lower overall fuel prices within the second half. She also said that the airline believes the 2024 financial yr will likely be more reflective of future financial performance, suggesting that the headwinds it’s facing are far different from the conditions in 2023.
Photo: Seth Jaworski I Shutterstock
Today, Air Recent Zealand released its Monthly Investor Update for August, showing the airline carried 1.22 million passengers, up 11% in comparison with 1.1 million in August 2022. With its international network fully restored, capability, as measured by available seat kilometers (ASKs), increased by 67.2% yr on yr, which saw the general passenger load factor fall from 85.8% in 2022 to 78.9%.
On a financial yr up to now (July/August), short-haul traffic increased by 0.6% and long-haul by 138.7% in comparison with the identical period last yr, with a combined increase of 9.1%. At the top of June, Air Recent Zealand had a fleet of 106 aircraft, including seven Boeing 777-300ERs, 14 Boeing 787s, 17 Airbus A320s, 16 A320/A321neos, 29 ATR72-600s and 23 Bombardier Q300s.
Big boost to long-haul capability
The capability boost was most noticeable in long-haul international, where ASKs rose by 143%, in comparison with 25% for short-haul Tasman/Pacific and 5.8% for domestic year-on-year. On a financial year-to-date basis, Air Recent Zealand carried 2.53 million passengers in comparison with 2.36 million in 2022, a 9% increase and ASKs increased by 73.1%, which resulted in load aspects for the 2 months falling from 86.9% to 79.8%.