![\"Air](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/116039_wing1cairnewzealand_396313.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAir New Zealand has suspended its earnings guidance \u2013 barely two weeks after it first disclosed it \u2013 amid \u201cunprecedented volatility\u201d in the jet fuel market following the ongoing Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n
The Star Alliance operator says its previous guidance issued with its half-year results on 26 February \u201cis no longer appropriate\u201d. At the time, it had estimated its pre-tax loss for the six months to 30 June to be around NZ$59 million ($34.9 million), similar to its loss in the previous six months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crisis is expected to meaningfully affect second-half earnings and accordingly, the airline has suspended [fiscal year 2026] guidance until fuel markets and operating conditions stabilise,\u201d the airline states.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Air New Zealand notes that while it is hedged against Brent crude \u2013 one of two elements in jet fuel \u2013 it \u201cremains exposed\u201d to price movements in crack spread, which has seen volatility in recent days. Crack spread is the price difference between a barrel of crude oil and the refined jet fuel produced from it<\/p>\n
Fuel prices spiked in the days following the attacks from Israel and the USA on Iran on 28 February. Iran in retaliation has effectively shut off the Strait of Hormuz, which handles about a quarter of the world\u2019s seaborne oil trade.<\/p>\n
The disruption caused prices to rise to levels not seen since 2022, at the start of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. In recent days jet fuel prices ranged between $150 and $200 per barrel.<\/p>\n
However, early on 10 March, fuel prices plunged to as a low as $84 a barrel following comments from US president Donald Trump that the conflict could be over \u201cvery soon\u201d. Trump also hinted that his administration would be open to lifting fuel sanctions on some countries in a bid to stabilise the oil market.<\/p>\n
To mitigate the fuel price fluctuations, Air New Zealand has \u201cimplemented initial fare adjustments\u201d and is looking at ways to reduce costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the conflict leads to continued elevated jet fuel costs, the airline may need to take further pricing action and adjust its network and schedule as required,\u201d the carrier states.<\/p>\n
Air New Zealand is the latest carrier \u2013 and the first in Asia-Pacific \u2013 to highlight the operating cost pressures from the ongoing conflict.\u00a0On 5 March, central European low-cost operator Wizz Air cut<\/a> its full-year financial forecast over the impact of the conflict.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Air New Zealand has suspended its earnings guidance \u2013 barely two weeks after it first disclosed it \u2013…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-321822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}