Competition might have stiffened in the past year, but Air New Zealand has confirmed that the boom in airline profitability continues in this part of the world (and Qantas will add to that confirmation when it reports its 2016-17 figures on Friday).
The Kiwi"™ favourite airline Wednesday reported its second highest profit on record – after the all time high in 2015-16.
As a result around 8,500 Air New Zealand staff will get a $NZ1700 bonus, down on thew $NZ2,500 individual payment for the 201516 financial year.
Air NZ reported an after tax profit of $NZ382 million for the year to June 30, down from last year"™s $NZ463 million.
While this was down nearly 18%, profit before tax of $NZ527 million was the second highest in its history, and came in the face of what it described as an "unprecedented" increase in competition in the year.
June the company said earnings before taxation were likely to exceed $NZ525 million – which they did – just.
«This year Air New Zealand faced an unprecedented increase in the level of competition from some of the world’s largest airlines and effectively rose to the challenge,» Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said.
«The impressive way our team responded to the new competition while at the same time achieving commercial, customer and cultural excellence, helped to deliver our second highest profit ever.
The company said it was "optimistic about the overall market dynamic" and aimed to improve its earnings in the current 2017-18 year…
