Wellington Airport carried 207,000 fewer passengers in the six months to 30 September than it did a year earlier, and its net loss for the half year has more than tripled to $16.3 million, as Air New Zealand’s fuel-driven schedule cuts bit into traffic at New Zealand’s third-busiest airport.
The airport released its unaudited half-year results on Friday 23 October. The headline it chose to lead with was operating earnings, measured as EBITDAF before subvention payment, of $65.7 million, almost identical to the $65.5 million recorded in the same period last year. Revenue was also flat at $94.6 million against $94.4 million.
Beneath that steady surface, the airport’s own financial statements show a business that is spending more to stand still. Depreciation rose from $15.5 million to $18.4 million as recent terminal and runway projects came into service. Interest costs climbed from $16.9 million to $19.7 million. A $4.6 million revaluation gain on investment property that flattered last year’s result did not recur. The result was a loss before tax of $22.7 million, compared with $16.5 million a year earlier, and a net loss after tax of $16.3 million against $4.8 million.
The passenger figures explain why revenue could not grow to cover those costs. The airport’s monthly traffic statistics show 2,313,233 passengers passed through the terminal between April and September 2026, down from 2,520,263 in the same six months of 2025. That is a fall of 8.2 per cent. Domestic passengers dropped 8.6 per cent to 1,944,903, while international passengers fell 6.4 per cent to 368,330. June was the weakest month, with 345,238 passengers, the lowest monthly total since April 2022.
Aircraft movement and terminal charges, the fees airlines pay to land and use the building, slipped from $55.4 million to $54.9 million. Retail and trading income, which depends on how many people walk past the shops and park their cars, fell from $28.8 million to $28.0 million. The one line that grew was property rent, up from $10.2 million to $10.8 million, as the airport continues to build out its commercial land around the terminal.
Wellington Airport chief executive Matt Clarke put the result down to two problems that have hit domestic aviation at once. “It’s been a solid six months for Wellington Airport given the challenges facing global aviation,” he said in the release.
“We are pleased that domestic fleet availability issues are resolving but the Middle East fuel crisis has been a persistent headwind over the period.”
The fleet problem is the long-running shortage of serviceable Pratt and Whitney engines on Air New Zealand’s Airbus A320neo and A321neo jets, which has kept several aircraft parked for two years and cut the number of jet seats on offer into Wellington. The fuel problem is newer. Air New Zealand said in its annual results on 28 August that “Jet fuel prices averaged US$111 per barrel in the 2026 financial year, compared with US$88 per barrel in 2025.” The airline estimated the Middle East conflict had added $328 million to its fuel bill, and said it was unable to give earnings guidance for the current financial year “with jet fuel currently around US$150 per barrel”.
The airline responded to the fuel spike by consolidating flights across its domestic network from March onwards, with a further round covering travel between 27 July and 24 October announced in May. The NZ Herald reported at the time that the Tauranga to Wellington route alone lost 45 return flights in that window, and quoted NZ Airports chief executive Billie Moore describing the round as “probably an overall 3-4% capacity reduction”. The six months covered by Wellington Airport’s result sit squarely inside that period.
Clarke said the airport had responded by holding back spending until the jets come back. “In response to this, we’ve maintained our focus on costs and timed our investment plans to ensure the airport is ready for the return of the domestic jet fleet and future growth.”
The accounts bear that out. Spending on property, plant and equipment fell from $72.9 million in the first half of last year to $30.7 million, as the major terminal upgrade, the new multi-level car park and the runway safety area works wound down. The airport still has $47.2 million of work contracted but not yet paid for, largely property and airfield projects, and the replacement baggage handling system and the southern seawall renewal, which won fast-track consent earlier this year, are next in line.
Two other items in the statements are worth noting for Wellington ratepayers. The airport is in arbitration with Fletcher Construction over the multi-level car park, with claims for remediation works and related costs whose outcome and timing remain unknown. And a fire in the South West Pier of the main terminal on 12 June cost $0.5 million in damage and remediation during the half, with an insurance claim under way through the airport’s captive insurer.
Wellington International Airport Limited is 66 per cent owned by Infratil through NZ Airports Limited, with Wellington City Council holding the remaining 34 per cent. Because the company sits inside the Infratil tax group, it makes an annual subvention payment to its parent, which this half came to $51.1 million, down from $55.6 million. That payment is what turns a profitable operating business into a loss on paper. Strip it out and the airport earned about $28.4 million before tax, compared with $39.1 million a year earlier, a decline of roughly a quarter. The council still received its dividend, which rose from $17.5 million to $18.8 million.
The question for the summer is whether the recovery Clarke is banking on arrives on schedule. Air New Zealand told investors in August that its engine groundings were easing and more aircraft were returning to service, but it also said domestic capacity for the current financial year would be broadly flat, with the first half still carrying fuel-related reductions. Jet fuel remains far above the levels airlines planned around, and the Reserve Bank is expected to raise the cash rate again next week, which will do nothing for discretionary travel. For an airport whose domestic traffic was 182,000 passengers below the same six months last year, flat is not yet recovery.
Have you flown through Wellington this year and noticed fewer flights or higher fares? Do you think the capital’s airport should keep investing through the downturn or wait for the jets to return? Share your experience in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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