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International passenger numbers at Auckland airport drop 95 percent
Auckland Airport says international passengers numbers have dropped more than 95 percent in the first 20 days of April over the year earlier.
March passenger traffic fell 42 percent on last year, with declining numbers expected to continue in the weeks ahead, with fewer repatriation services.
Chief executive Adrian Littlewood said Auckland Airport had been materially impacted by the pandemic, and was now operating at about 10 percent of its capacity with no certainty of when the market will recover.
He said the organisation had made the tough decision to start consulting with staff about proposed changes to staffing levels.
"Despite all of these measures, we have now reached the point where we need to reshape our organisation in line with a much smaller capital programme as well as our expectations for materially lower international passenger numbers for the foreseeable future."
Auckland Airport currently employs about 600 people, and the proposed additional staff changes were expected across the business, including those working on the company's infrastructure development programme.
Littlewood said Auckland Airport would continue to incur significant costs to run airport operations despite the fall in air traffic and passenger numbers.
The company recently raised $1 billion of capital to help it through the decline in business, and was looking at other ways to cut costs.
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