Air New Zealand reports near record profits for financial 2017
Air New Zealand has today announced earnings before taxation for the 2017 financial year of $527 million, compared to $663 million in the prior year - the second highest result in the airline’s history.
Net profit after taxation was $382 million.
Chairman Tony Carter praised the strong result, acknowledging the airline’s staff for their continued focus on driving profitable network growth during a period of significant new competition.
A 2017 final fully imputed dividend of 11 cents per share has been declared, an increase of ten percent on the prior year, bringing the full year declared ordinary dividends to 21 cents per share.
“Based on the airline’s strong financial position, future capital commitments and improving trading environment, the board felt it appropriate to increase the dividend,” said Carter.
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The final dividend will be paid on September 18th to investors on record at the close of business on September 8th.
Chief executive at Air New Zealand, Christopher Luxon, said 2017 has been an exciting and productive year and credits the airline’s staff for their outstanding contribution.
“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.
“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,” said Luxon.
In 2018, Air New Zealand will continue growing its comprehensive domestic network.
The airline sees opportunity coming from inbound tourism as well as strong domestic tourism.
Internationally, the airline’s strategy to enter key markets with the help of revenue-sharing alliance partners and strong market development plans has helped drive successful expansion.
In the coming year, Air New Zealand’s offshore growth will focus on the Japan market with the addition of Haneda, as well as increasing services during peak season across routes in the Pacific Islands and North and South America.
Luxon added that recent announcements regarding competitor capacity rationalisation support the airline’s view of a stronger revenue environment in the coming year.