Air NZ passenger numbers grow in October

Air New Zealand carried 912,000 passengers in October, a rise of 2.5 per cent on the same month a year earlier.

The national flag carrier's group capacity, as measured by available seat kilometres (ASKs) rose 3.4 per cent to 2.6 billion ASKs, after it added a second B777 aircraft, a 13th A320 and a third Q300 to its fleet.

Group traffic, as measured by revenue passenger kilometres (RPKs), increased 0.2 per cent to 1.9 billion RPKs for the month.

Air NZ's group passenger load factor of 72.7 per cent was 2.3 percentage points lower than October 2004, however, as a fall in Tasman, Pacific Island, North America, Europe and Asia/Japan passengers outweighed a small rise in domestic passengers.

Group yield, as measured by total passenger revenue divided by total kilometres flown, rose 5.5 per cent after adjusting for currency movements.

Short haul yields rose 6.1 per cent, while long haul yields increased 2.7 per cent.

Air NZ said last month that rising fuel costs would wipe $60 million off its full-year earnings, a reduction on earlier forecasts of $100 million.

Shares in Air NZ were trading down a cent at $1.17 by late morning.

- NZPA