Carrie Hurihanganui: Auckland Aiport CEO on the 87% increase in annual underlying profit

Auckland Airport is reporting an 87% increase in annual underlying profit as its post-Covid recovery continues. 

International traffic is at 91% of pre-Covid levels, with seats on North American routes are up 48%, and visitors from there are up 40-%. 

The airport now has 27 airlines flying non-stop between Auckland and 42 international destinations. 

CEO Carrie Hurihanganui told Mike Hosking that plenty of Airlines are still very positive about New Zealand as a destination and a place they want to expand to. 

She said there’s positive signs, but they are still seeing the impact of global supply chain issues. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
As part of results season. What have we got Auckland
deport came to the parties Andrew alluded to a couple
of moments ago passengers up, revenue up, profit up. The CEO,
Kerry Hudahunganui is back with us. Very good morning to you.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Good morning mane.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
How much of your bottom line at the end of
the day is what you specifically do versus other people
doing stuff for you?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I e.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
And airline lands they bring people in with that comes money.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Yeah, great, great question. I mean as an airport you
are a passenger or traveler business. Right, You've got travelers
that come and so poor relationships with airlines in regards
to their operation. Obviously you do have retail and then
part of Oakland Airport obviously also we have the landing
business park and so logistics and warehouse distribution as well.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
The shortage of aircraft globally, is that affecting you? And
if it is, how badly?

Speaker 2 (00:52):
Yeah? It is, Mike. It's quite interesting when you look
at the numbers and start to compare goggly. So we've
finished out that pardon me, the year at about eighty
six percent. Any even if you look at July eighty
six percent. That's only up a couple of percent from
the same time last year, whereas when you look at
other markets like US, Canada, Great Britain, Singapore, Australia, they're

(01:14):
all up between ten and twenty percentage points. We're up
to and so there is definitely a lagging for the
New Zealand market comparatively.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
What would your view be on the tourism picture generally?
Is that part of the problem not enough planes? Is
it not enough demand? Is there something wrong with us
because the tourism picture isn't right yet?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
I would say it's all of the above, Mike. I mean,
you have the we're geographically isolated island, so we're a
long way away. So in their line are saying, right,
we are short of aircraft, We've already we're already uperating
to profitable routes that potentially are closer and so you
get a better utilization. New Zealand is what they call
a long skinny route, which means the asset is a
way for longer and you've got to see the performance

(02:00):
to want to invest in it. That being said, airlines
we're talking to are still very positive about New Zealand
as a destination. And as a place that they do
want to expand. But you often have conversations where you're saying, yep,
when we get our next fleet or as things come back,
you absolutely kind of are one of our next destinations.
So there's positive signs, but yes, you are seeing those

(02:22):
global supply chain issues that are having an impact on us.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
What about the domestic scene and how it's being affected
by the cycle recession.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, there's a couple of things flying out in the
domestic scene. You know, domestic capacity this year is thirteen
percent down on what it was in twenty nineteen, so
that takes you back to what was twenty sixteen and
seventeen levels of capacity. Now you're seeing the load factors
up higher as a result of that, and I think
you've got a tough economic condition, certainly locally here in

(02:55):
New Zealand. We have issues obviously with things like engines
that have spreen er New Zealand's ability to get that
domestic capacity, and they're working really hard to resolve it,
but nonetheless it's our issue. And one of the things
that we're also seeing is is there's pockets that are
spending less, so kind of those and there's forties and fifties,

(03:15):
the ones you generally would see with children and mortgages.
You're definitely seeing a drop off in that segment in
regards to their travel overall.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
You bullish, Oh, listen.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
I'm positive, but it is a game of two has Mike.
You've got international positive signs, lots of conversation with their owns. Now,
our job is convert that from interest to actual capacity.
But the domestic market's going to be tough this next year.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
I will be inundated with the usual text about how
crappy reporters and how long the lines are and how
they didn't get their bag in terms of experience. You say, what, in.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Terms of experience, I think we've made tremendous headway. And
if we think I recall talking to you, Mike earlier
around queues for example, internationals. You know that's improved forty
three percent from where it was this time last year
instead of an average of thirty one minutes at seventeen,
so and that's what it should be. That's better than
twenty nineteen performance. But we also know that we are

(04:13):
creating challenges. We are can't deny at the construction site
at the moment, and whilst we're trying to reduce disruption
to travelers and make sure they're safe. Sometimes that does
create challenges to customers and we're always reviewing it to
make sure that we're minimizing that. But we have made
significant improvements, but we've got more to do.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
Definitely good stuff, Carring nice to catch up. Appreciate it
very much, Erry Huda hang Anui, who's the Airport Aukland
Airport CEO.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio