Demand on Air New Zealand’s trans Tasman services increased 4.2% in March with flights more than 80% full.
Capacity on the route was cut by 0.3% leading to a rise in load factors of 3.6 percentage points to 82.5%, latest figures from the carrier have shown.
Overall demand climbed 1.6% which together with a 1.6% dip in capacity saw network wide loads rise 2.6 points to 82.4%. Passenger numbers totalled 1.29 million, down marginally on March 2011.
Passenger numbers on Asia, Japan and UK routes climbed 12.2% to 65,000 but to the UK via North America fell 6.1% to 87,000.
Group wide yields for the financial year to date were up 3.9% against the same period last year. Short haul was up 1.8% with long haul yields rising 4%.
