Airport holds costs, reports profit liftoff
Christchurch International Airport has reported a strong sixmonth 25 per cent lift in after-tax profit to $24 million.
The result means the airport company will pay a $21m dividend – two-thirds of it to the Christchurch City Council, and one-third to the Government.
Chief executive Malcolm Johns released the figures for the half-year ended in December, with the profit boosted by higher revenue from landing charges, and property development.
International arrivals, mostly from China, led passenger growth, with a 2.9 per cent rise in international passengers compared with the same period the previous year.
Johns said domestic passenger growth was restricted by capacity reductions on the Queenstown and Auckland routes, both of which had very high load factors.
He emphasised cost control as a major factor in the result. Operating expenses were $32.6m, little changed from the previous corresponding period’s $32.9m.
‘‘Our team has managed to hold operating costs at last year’s levels through a strong ongoing focus on productivity, which meant that revenue growth has flowed through to an improved net surplus after tax of $24.3m, up
26 per cent on the same period last year,’’ he said.
The profit was achieved on turnover of $95m, compared with
$88m previously.
The net profit after tax as a percentage of equity was 2.4 per cent, compared with forecasts of
3.1 per cent for the period. The forecast for the 12 months ending in June 2019 is 5.9 per cent when property revaluations will be included.
During the six months, China Southern Airlines began a daily service between Guangzhou and Christchurch on 787-900 aircraft, which have one-third more seats than previous aircraft.
Of the international seats into and out of Christchurch over the six months, Qantas Airways and its Jetstar subsidiary supplied
28 per cent. Air New Zealand supplied 26 per cent, followed by Emirates on 16 per cent, Virgin on 12 per cent, Singapore Airlines on 9 per cent, China Southern on
5 per cent and Fiji Airways on
4 per cent.
Air New Zealand has announced a service between Christchurch and Singapore for next summer, using 787 aircraft.
Other notable trends included a 16 per cent increase in Chinese arrivals at Christchurch in November and December compared with the same two months the previous year, while total arrivals into New Zealand fell
4 per cent. This demonstrated that Christchurch was a growing entry point for Chinese visitors, John said.