Airport profit up despite dip in passenger numbers
Wellington Airport says its commitment to extending its runway ‘‘hasn’t dimmed’’ despite the resource consent process being placed on hold indefinitely.
On Thursday the company, jointly-owned by Infratil and the Wellington City Council, revealed a $4.4 million rise in underlying earning before subvention payments, to $90.5m in the year to March 31.
The airport’s net profits after tax rose 29 per cent to $16.1m.
Total revenue jumped 5 per cent to $119.6m. During the year Wellington Airport paid a dividend to the council of $12.1m.
Larger planes on domestic services, coupled with new Jetstar services, saw the number of domestic passengers rise 3.6 per cent to more than 5 million during the year. International passengers dropped by about 1 per cent to 888,427, despite the introduction of a new Singapore Airlines flight to Canberra and Singapore.
In a statement to the New Zealand stock exchange, where the airport has Wellington-listed debt securities, chairman Tim Brown said the Singapore service was ‘‘proof there is strong demand for long-haul services to central New Zealand’’.
He said the drop in international passengers came after a near-doubling over 15 years.
‘‘In part this was an expected consolidation, but there are other factors channelling New Zealand’s international growth via Auckland and Christchurch as a lot of that growth is on long-haul services.’’
Wellington Airport has undertaken a major – and highly contentious – project to extend its runway south into Cook Strait to allow direct long-haul services.
Resource consent hearings were due to kick off in June, but have been suspended after a court challenge ordered the Civil Aviation Authority to re-examine its decision making in terms of acceptable runway safety areas.
Both the CAA and Wellington Airport have applied to the Supreme Court to appeal the Court of Appeal ruling, brought about by a challenge from the New Zealand Airline Pilots’ Association.
‘‘[U]ntil the issue is resolved it represents an impediment to Wellington progressing its resource consent,’’ Brown said.
‘‘This is naturally disappointing, but Wellington Airport’s commitment hasn’t dimmed … Recent evidence has reinforced the huge benefits that would arise to the region from Wellington being able to accept long-haul airlines.’’