Air New Zealand sees forward bookings softening

Air New Zealand announced today that forward bookings for flights on key its international routes are softening.

 The airline said that the overall decline in bookings for the period to the end of June 2003 is very modest (after adjusting for Easter in April rather than March), some key routes have been affected more significantly. In addition, the profile of bookings is changing and higher than usual levels of late cancellations are being experienced and the booking period is also shortening.

The routes that are most affected are Los Angeles-London, Auckland-Japan, Auckland-Hong Kong and Auckland-Singapore. Forward bookings on these routes are down by 5-10 percent on an Easter-adjusted basis.

The impact on these routes is considered to be driven by the impending war in Iraq, compounded by the impact of the SARS outbreaks in certain parts of Asia. The airline also claimed the tension surrounding the situation in North Korea is also a factor causing weaker demand out of Japan and North Asia.

Air New Zealand says the trend is not yet sufficiently clear to determine the effects on profitability and that the impact of changes in forward booking profiles on profitability and schedules is still being considered.