Air New Zealand recorded a rise in load factor across all its major markets during September as it made a number of capacity cuts to match lower demand.
Compared to September 2008, the carrier saw a 1.2 per cent fall in passengers carried, resulting in a 6.8 per cent fall in RPKs. However, with capacity lower by 11.9 per cent, load factor improved by 4.5 percentage points to 82.3 per cent.
Interestingly, the largest growth in passenger numbers was experienced on its domestic market, with passenger numbers up 1.5 per cent, despite the increased competition from Jetstar and Pacific Blue. Passenger numbers on the Tasman were lower by 2.2 per cent, but a 13.1 per cent cut in capacity saw load factor increase by 8.6 points to 80.2 per cent. Long haul services continued to see declines, although a 13.6 per cent decrease in capacity saw load factor increase by 2.7 points to 84.7 per cent.
