Coronavirus: Air New Zealand passengers down by a quarter in March

Tuesday, 28 April 2020

Air New Zealand passenger numbers were down by 476,000 in March.

Border closures and the national lockdown to prevent spread of coronavirus saw Air New Zealand passenger numbers fall by a quarter in March.

The airline carried 1.3 million passengers for the month, compared with 1.8m in March 2019.

Domestic passenger numbers dropped 23 per cent, with Tasman Pacific and long haul down by about a third.

But the really big hit was on Asia markets with passengers from Asia, Japan and Singapore falling by half to 91,000.

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Those flights were on average 60 per cent full in March 2020, compared with 84 per cent the previous March.

That change reflected the decision to refuse entry to Chinese visitors and the subsequent reduction in Air New Zealand flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Passenger numbers for the Americas and the UK held up better, dropping 22 per cent in March.

Alert level 3 was expected to have only a minimal impact on business for the airline after it drastically cut back flights to those needed to keep supply lines open and to transport essential services personnel.

Air NZ has estimated that Covid-19 could result in revenue dropping by more than $5 billion, and it has announced plans to shed at least a third of its 12,500 employees.