Air New Zealand has posted a 6% drop in passenger traffic in October, as demand and capacity fell across all sectors.
Total RPKs fell 6% from a year ago, says the Star Alliance carrier. Short-haul passenger traffic fell 4% and long-haul RPKs decreased 8%.
Short-haul flights include the domestic, Australian and Pacific Island markets. Flights to Asia, North America and Europe are considered long-haul.
In real terms, the total number of passengers fell 4% to 931,000 from 971,000. The number of short-haul passengers decreased 3% to 811,000 from 839,000 while the number of long-haul passengers dropped 9% to 120,000 from 132,000.
The North American and UK routes have shown signs of improvement, says the carrier. However, "conditions remain challenging in the Asia region, with demand 16.3% lower than last October," it adds.
Total capacity, as measured in ASKs, fell 10%. Capacity in the short-haul sector was reduced by 9% and in the long-haul market by 11%.
As a result, the overall passenger load factor grew by 3.3 percentage points, says the carrier.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
