Air New Zealand has received strong support for its share issue with the vast majority being taken up by investors.
The Air New Zealand head office will be relocated to Auckland Airport by 2024. Photo: Air New Zealand
The two-for-one offer has now closed and the airline says 88 percent of the shares offered worth $1.045 billion were taken.
The new shares were sold at 53 cents each, and those not taken up by shareholders will be auctioned off to institutional investors.
The offer was part of a $2.2b refinancing of Air New Zealand to help it to rebuild and recover from the pandemic.
The other $1b is being raised through a special share issue to the government, which is also backing a standby fund.
Meanwhile, the airline said bookings have been encouraging since the re-opening of borders, raising the prospect it would make a smaller than forecast full year loss.
"If these signs continue through to the end of FY22 (financial year 2022), and there are no additional adverse impacts on the business, Air New Zealand's losses before significant items and taxation... could be better than currently expected."
The airline has forecast annual underlying losses of $800m.
"However, the macro-economic environment remains uncertain as a result of the disruption caused by the impact of Omicron and other Covid-19 variants, and the current conflict in Ukraine," it said in a statement to stock exchange, adding that volatile fule prices were an added risk.