Cath O’Brien, Board of Airline Representatives (Barnz) executive director, said that was likely a consequence of Kiwi households having some concerns about the economy.
“It’s certainly a challenge for airlines to attract business in a [tough] economic environment.”
PLF is the percentage of available seating capacity filled with passengers.
Domestic PLF was up from 77.8% to 80% year-on-year, and long-haul PLF was up slightly from 81.1% to 81.2%.
The airline said overall capacity increased 1.3% in June compared with the prior year.
But its long-haul and domestic available seat kilometres (ASKs) were down.
ASKs are calculated by multiplying total available seats by distance flown.
The airline has had fewer flights on several routes because of the jump in jet fuel prices.
On revenue performance, underlying revenue per ASK improved 2.2% year-on-year.
The airline said long-haul revenue per ASK rose 5.7% in the year to June 30 compared with the prior financial year.
It said demand for long-haul services was fairly resilient.
Air New Zealand carried 0.3% more passengers on Tasman and Pacific services in June than it did in the same month of last year. Photo / Jason Dorday
Cancelled flights
The airline said it was improving with regard to cancellations, at least for those within its control.
Those amounted to 0.7% of flights, compared to 1.7% in June last year.
“While total cancellations increased to 3.3% of scheduled flights during June, these were primarily caused by factors outside the airline’s control including severe weather and disruption caused by the fire at Wellington Airport.”
Less reactionary
The airline said its June 86% on-time performance was down slightly from May’s record 89.1% but up on 78.3% a year earlier.
It said there was a cut in the number of reactionary delays, which happened when a delay to one flight impacted the rest of the day’s schedule.
Air NZ said reactionary delays were down by more than 50% on June 2025.
Today’s update will be the last monthly update of this nature before the airline’s annual result on August 28.
The airline in May told the sharemarket it expected to lose up to $390 million this financial year.
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He also has experience covering consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
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