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Air New Zealand has guided the market to a 60 per cent improvement in financial performance 2014/15 and flagged further earnings growth in the following year.
In a trading update on June 24, Air NZ said normalised earnings before taxation was forecast to come in between NZ$520 million and NZ$530 million for the 12 months to June 30 2015.
The result would be a significant increase from normalised earnings before taxation of $NZ332 million in 2013/14 and the fourth straight year of profit growth.
“The strong earnings momentum has continued in the second half of the year,” Air NZ said.
“The board has reviewed the FY16 financial plan and, given known circumstances, the company continues to target earnings growth for the coming year.”
Air NZ said the guidance did not include the equity earnings from its shareholding in Virgin Australia.
In the 11 months to May 2015, Air NZ has increased passenger numbers across its domestic and international operations 4.2 per cent to 12.965 million. Capacity, measured by available seat kilometres, rose 6.1 per cent in that period.
And the airline has flagged further long-haul capacity growth in 2015/16, with new service to Houston and Buenos Aires due to launch in December 2015, as well as additional services between Perth and Auckland.
