It’s Thursday, and the most useful document of the week arrived on the sharemarket on Tuesday night with very little fuss. Here’s what’s moving.
Air New Zealand carries 1 percent fewer passengers a day and fills more of its seats as jet fuel averages US$140 a barrel
Air New Zealand’s trading update for the three months to 30 September, filed with the NZX, shows an airline deliberately flying less and charging more. On a per-day basis the group carried 1.0 percent fewer passengers than a year earlier and flew 2.1 percent fewer seat kilometres, while its load factor rose 1.8 points to 84.8 percent. Underlying revenue per seat kilometre, excluding currency effects, rose 12.7 percent. The airline says that came from capacity management and higher average fares across the network, and that it only partly offset jet fuel. Singapore jet fuel averaged US$140 a barrel in the quarter, against US$85 a year earlier.
A word on the raw numbers, because they look like growth. The airline carried 4.162 million passengers, against 3.942 million a year earlier, which is 220,000 more. But its accounting calendar gave this quarter 96 days and last year’s 90. Per day, that is about 43,350 passengers against 43,800 (4,162,000 / 96 and 3,942,000 / 90), which is the 1.0 percent fall. The same adjustment applies to every percentage below.
By network:
- Domestic: passengers down 2.7 percent and seats down 2.5 percent, with the load factor up 1.5 points to 84.4 percent. The airline calls these targeted, fuel-price-driven capacity adjustments. Per day, about 26,600 domestic passengers against 27,330 (2,554,000 / 96 and 2,460,000 / 90).
- Tasman and Pacific Islands: passengers up 3.7 percent and seats up 4.2 percent, helped by more widebody flying to Perth and Papeete and by the new Christchurch to Rarotonga and Queenstown to Brisbane services, which added about 2.3 points of the growth.
- Long-haul: passengers down 2.3 percent and seats down 5.4 percent, with the load factor up 2.8 points to 84.5 percent. Los Angeles took most of the cut: quarterly departures fell from 246 to 204, or 17 percent, and the switch from Boeing 777s to smaller 787-9s means Los Angeles seat capacity fell 27.6 percent on a day-adjusted basis.
For operators, the domestic line is the one to read. It confirms from the airline’s side what Auckland Airport’s September figures showed earlier this week: fewer domestic seats, and the ones that are flying are fuller and dearer. The Los Angeles cut matters for anyone selling to North Americans, who now have fewer Air New Zealand seats to choose from on its main US gateway. The airline is 80 percent hedged on Brent crude for the first half of its financial year but only 40 percent for the second half, from January, so fares are unlikely to soften soon. On-time performance improved to 85.2 percent for the quarter, from 78.0 percent.
Stat of the day
US$140
The average price of a barrel of Singapore jet fuel in July to September, up from US$85 a year earlier, a rise of 65 percent (140 / 85). (Air New Zealand quarterly trading update)
Source: Air New Zealand quarterly trading update via NZX
Cafe and restaurant prices rise 3.1 percent in a year, faster than food overall, and a Whangārei cafe decides to close
Stats NZ’s food price figures put the restaurant and ready-to-eat food group up 3.1 percent in the year to September, ahead of overall food inflation of 2.4 percent, RNZ reported. Grocery food rose 3 percent and meat, poultry and fish 3.2 percent. Household electricity was up 9.5 percent and gas 11.4 percent, which hits commercial kitchens as hard as homes.
RNZ’s story put a face on it: Pure Café in Whangārei, open for six years, will close on 27 November. Angela Clements, speaking for the cafe, said quality ingredients had become unaffordable, customers were coming less often and spending less, and the business could no longer support even one full-time worker. She said it had been absorbing cost increases rather than putting up prices.
The squeeze runs both ways. Menu prices are rising faster than supermarket food, yet this cafe, at least, says it was not passing on its full costs, because its customers were already spending less. Westpac’s card data shows restaurant and takeaway spending has lifted since the start of the year, which suggests diners are still turning up in total. The pressure falls hardest on small regional operators without the volume to spread their fixed costs.
Source: RNZ
Labour Day is Monday, and the surcharge rules are simple: say so, and say why
Labour Day falls on Monday 26 October. Staff who work a public holiday that is one of their normal working days get time and a half plus a day off in lieu, and many cafes and restaurants pass that on as a surcharge. The Restaurant Association told RNZ the typical surcharge is 15 percent, which adds $6 to a $40 main.
According to Consumer NZ, a business can charge whatever surcharge it likes as long as customers are told about it and why it applies before they order: a sign, a note on the website or a word at the counter all count. Customers who feel misled can complain to the Commerce Commission. Shops can trade as normal, unlike on Christmas Day, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Anzac morning. For anyone hosting visitors from overseas, where holiday surcharges are rare, the sign on the door does a lot of work. It saves an awkward conversation at the till.
Source: RNZ
Dunedin’s stadium ends a three-year wait for a headline concert, with government backing
UK electronic act Chase & Status will play Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin on 5 March 2027, RNZ reported. It will be the stadium’s first major concert since P!nk in March 2024, three years to the day, a gap RNZ put at nearly a thousand days. The show is supported through a one-off events attraction package from the Government, with Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston quoted on the support. No figure for the funding or the expected economic impact was given.
The timing is telling. Christchurch’s roofed stadium, Te Kaha, opened this year and now competes directly for the same touring acts, and Dunedin’s stadium operator has been without a headliner while its owner carries the building’s debt. A single concert does not settle that, but it shows the Government is willing to put public money into keeping big shows coming south rather than leaving them all to the newer venue. Accommodation providers in Dunedin and nearby should note the date now.
Source: RNZ
Coming up
- Today: Stats NZ releases the September quarter consumers price index; economists expect annual inflation to ease to about 3.9 percent. Lyttelton’s 2026-27 cruise season opens, with 63 ship calls expected
- 24-26 October: Buses replace all Metlink trains in the Wellington region over Labour Weekend
- 25 October: The Kawarau Gorge Trail opens in part, Cromwell to Pioneer Bridge, and the airlines’ summer scheduling season begins
- 26 October: Labour Day, and Air New Zealand’s first Auckland to Western Sydney service
- 28 October: Reserve Bank OCR decision, and Air New Zealand’s first Christchurch to Singapore service
- 1 November: Backcountry Hut Tickets move to DOC’s online booking system
- 4 November: Tourism Summit Aotearoa and the NZ Tourism Awards, Te Pae Christchurch
- 7 November: General election
- 14 November: Contractors start on the Hahei Beach Short Walk reroute
- 5 March 2027: Chase & Status at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin
- 7 April 2027: Air New Zealand’s codeshare with Qantas ends
- 1 July 2027: New Border Processing Levy rates take effect, with arriving cruise passengers paying $7.20
That's today's briefing. The Shoulder Season is back every weekday morning.