Far fewer Air NZ passengers

Air New Zealand flew 67,000 passengers in May, well short of the 1.28 million it carried last May. The company said passenger numbers last month were down by nearly 95 per cent. Year to date, its passenger numbers were down 19 per cent at just over 13 million. Another measure of air traffic, the number of kilometres travelled by paying passengers, was down 97 per cent in May, to 79 million. After being virtually grounded by Covid-19 lockdown and border closures, the airline has set a target to return to 13 million passengers annually by August 2022, versus the almost 18 million it had prior to the pandemic. Air New Zealand is nearing the end of its financial year on June 30. It has warned it is facing an underlying loss before other significant items and taxation of up to $120 million.