SYDNEY (Reuters) -Air New Zealand Ltd has the potential to grow its domestic business by 20%-30% from pre-pandemic levels over the next few years, its chief executive said on Tuesday.
“We’ve got a terrific domestic business here in Air New Zealand and we see an opportunity to grow that more,” Air New Zealand Chief Executive Greg Foran said at a CAPA Centre for Aviation event.
He said the airline’s domestic capacity, now running at about 40% of pre-COVID levels, should begin to recover starting next week as travel curbs on its biggest city, Auckland, are eased.
Before Auckland was locked down over an outbreak of the Delta variant, capacity had returned to 90% of pre-COVID levels.
New Zealand’s international borders remain closed and the country will require travellers to isolate at home or a hotel for seven days on arrival when the country opens to foreigners on April 30..
(Reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Tom Hogue and Gerry Doyle)