Air New Zealand expects to lift profit again this year after establishing what its chief executive calls a "virtuous circle" of growing passenger numbers coupled with good cost control.
Air New Zealand reported a $262 million profit yesterday. Photo: RNZ
The government-controlled airline has reported a 45 percent jump in annual net profit to $262 million - the result excludes its share of losses from Virgin Australia, which reports its results tomorrow.
Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said the higher profit he expected to deliver this year did not just reflect the 6 percent increase in capacity he was expecting from new planes.
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"We actually have created a virtuous circle and it will only get better in the next five years as we move forward," he said.
"We actually have very good levels of revenue growth. In fact, our passenger numbers, excluding the impact of foreign exchange, are up almost 4.6 percent. That's a really good thing. For a period of time the company's sales have continued to decline. We've now got revenue growth happening and we've got good cost control going on across the business as well."
Shareholders will benefit from the bumper result because Air New Zealand will pay a special dividend of 10 cents per share on top of the final dividend of 5.5 cents, taking the annual payout to 20 cents, up from 8 cents last year.