Air New Zealand has hit some turbulence with a $289 million loss for the year ended June.
It has used $350 million of the government's $1.5 billion loan facility. The airline also recently had a crew member test positive for Delta after flying home from Japan - the case is totally separate from the current cluster in Aotearoa.
Air NZ CEO Greg Foran told Checkpoint July was the company’s best July its domestic arm has ever had.
He said Air NZ has not drawn more from its government loan since February.
“That still sits down $350 million. We've got over a billion dollars’ worth of liquidity thanks to the Crown loan, and we'll just have to see how it how it plays out.”
He said Air NZ has been rehearsing for a situation where Auckland may still be at level 4 lockdown while the rest of NZ is at a lower level.
“It’s a wonderful piece of network scheduling… but we can do it.”
Regarding the crew member who tested positive for Delta, Foran said the rules for cabin crew is still working.
Crew members are fully vaccinated, and do not have to isolate if returning on a flight to NZ. They do have to be tested in the week of returning.
“We worked pretty closely with the Ministry of Health on those and I think that over the last period of time, we've only had four crew that have contracted Covid-19.
“This I believe is the first one that's had Delta.”
The case has not spread to anyone else, he said.
Foran said it is not good luck that Air NZ has only had four Covid-19 cases among its crew members.
“When you consider all the flights we've done I don't think that's like at all. I think it's good management. I think it's very good adherence to the policy.”
