News
Air New Zealand yield down 4.7% ahead of United Airlines joint venture
March 18th 2016
Air New Zealand (Air NZ) this week said it carried 1.24 million passengers in February, a 9% improvement on the previous year, as Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) increased 10.3%, on 9.9% ASK growth. Read More » However, overall yield for the financial year to date is down 4.7% after removing the impact of foreign exchange fluctuations, the carrier said. With this news, Air NZ follows the trend of declining yields across the industry. This week, Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways said they were feeling the pinch. Last week, Cathay Pacific Airways, when it announced its results, reported its overall 2015 yields had slipped 11.4%.
Air NZ and United Airlines last week signed a revenue-sharing joint venture for flights between New Zealand and the U.S. from July, a few days after rival, American Airlines, inaugurates its Auckland-Los Angeles B787 service.
The Air NZ/United joint venture will see the carriers coordinate sales and marketing to offer more flight options and better schedules. In addition, United will launch a San Francisco-Auckland service, which would initially operate three times a week and increase to daily from November. The two airlines have been code sharing since 2001. Air NZ has revenue share agreements with Cathay Pacific Airways and Air China, respectively.
In 2015, New Zealand posted record tourism and migration numbers as airlines increased flights and introduced routes to the Pacific nation from the U.S., South America, China and the UAE.
Separately, Air NZ and Virgin Australia have agreed to “investigate options for locally produced aviation biofuel”. The pair are issuing a request for information to the biofuels industry “to explore the opportunity to procure” biofuel.
Virgin Australia this week signed a multi-year partnership with Amadeus. The airline IT GDS will provide agents with continued access to Virgin Australia’s full range of fares, seats and schedules under the same conditions as that offered through all other channels. “We have boundless respect for Virgin Australia as an innovative, forward-thinking airline and are pleased to see our partnership with them go from strength to strength,” said Hazem Hussein, Amadeus’ airline commercial executive vice-president. “This agreement furthers our commitment to providing our airline partners with the most efficient, neutral and cost-effective means to reach and partner with travel agencies, and at the same time gives our travel agency subscribers access to the best and widest range of content.”
