Air New Zealand says Trans Tasman traffic back to 70 percent

Air New Zealand says Trans Tasman traffic is back to 70 per cent of pre-COVID levels while domestic traffic is back to 90 per cent. The Trans Tasman bubble with Australia kicked off in April. Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran says that despite the challenges of the last 12 months, the airline continues to have a strong core in its Domestic and short-haul businesses. However, long-haul international passenger travel remains highly restricted, with passenger volumes currently less than 5 percent of pre-COVID levels while international borders remain effectively closed. “The airline has its eyes firmly set on the future as we move out of the survival phase and into revival mode. For us this means further strengthening our core domestic business and putting even greater focus on our customer obsession, making sure we understand what our customers truly want from their end-to-end travel journey. It means maintaining the hard-won structural cost reductions made across our business from the outset of this pandemic and ensuring continued cost vigilance,” Mr. Foran said. Air New Zealand has renegotiated the delivery date of the first of eight new Boeing 787-10s, which were ordered in 2019 prior to the outbreak of COVID-19. The first aircraft was due to enter the fleet in the 2023 financial year, but an agreement has been reached to move the delivery of this aircraft out to the 2024 financial year. Air New Zealand expects losses before other significant items and taxation will not exceed NZ$450 million for the 2021 financial year. In addition, it adds that the 2021 financial result benefitted from a number of tailwinds received through various Government support and other mechanisms totalling approximately NZ$300 million, which will not continue at the same level in the 2022 financial year. The airline says that currently, it anticipates a loss before other significant items and taxation in the 2022 financial year comparable with that expected for the 2021 financial year but given the current environment, the outlook for the 2022 financial year remains uncertain.