Christchurch Airport, which is set to handle record long-haul international services this summer, has delivered its strongest annual result yet for the year to 30 Jun.
While rival Auckland Airport last week reported what analysts described as a ‘softer and lower quality’ result than forecast, CHC says its profit climbed more than 30% to $64.9m in the past year.
Total passengers of 6.85 million were up 7.1%, made up of domestic 5.09m (up 5.4%) and international 1.76m (up 12.6%). The performance was achieved despite a challenging global aviation environment. “Our airlines partners continued to manage aircraft and engine shortages, fuel-price uncertainty and geopolitical disruption,” says CHC ceo Justin Watson.
. . . Big Summer
CHC will offer more than 1.27 million international seats across Nov-Mar, up 21% on last summer. Growth is particularly strong on long-haul services, which are up 54% and will add around 130,000 seats compared with last summer. Services across the Tasman and to the Pacific Islands will be up 11% adding around 89,000 seats. One of the biggest changes comes from Air New Zealand. The national carrier will launch three new inter- national services from CHC, in a move south from its traditional AKL long-haul hub.
. . . AKL Outlook
When it announced a flat underlying profit last week, AKL said there is more international capacity and frequency this summer to destinations including Beijing, Guangzhou, Taipei and Buenos Aires. Port Moresby is the only new destination listed, although the Thai Prime Minister announced Thai Airways would resume AKL services by Mar.
Last financial year, AKL’s international seat capacity grew 1% year-on-year with the additional capacity in the period to Mar partly offset by capacity reductions following the Middle East conflict.
