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August, 2011
Queenstown Airport will pay its first dividend to its shareholders, $3.28 million after a boost in profit for the year ending June this year. The Queenstown Lakes District Council, which owns 75.1 percent of the international airport, will receive $2.46 million while 24.9 percent shareholder, Auckland International Airport Ltd, will receive an $821,000 boost. Interim board chairman Murray Valentine said the key drivers in the strong financial performance of Queenstown Airport were record passenger numbers, an increase in aircraft movements and strong revenues from commercial activities, including retail concessions and car parking. Operating revenue increased 17 percent to $15.6 million and the 2011 EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) was $9.9 million, a 31.1 percent increase over the 2010 EBITDA of $7.54 million. The airports financial performance, combined with last years restructuring of the balance sheet by raising $27.7 million of new capital, has placed Queenstown Airport in a position to return for the first time a dividend to its shareholders, Mr Valentine. This years NPAT (net profit after tax) of $4.58M represents a lift of 22.1% over normalised NPAT of $3.75M in 2010. A record 924,248 scheduled passengers travelled through the airport up 14 percent on the previous year. International passengers were up 50 percent at 161,089, while domestic passengers rose 8.5 percent with 767,159 passengers moving through the airport, Mr Valentine said. Airport chief executive officer Steve Sanderson said airport growth had been boosted by increased flight frequency on traditional routes, the introduction of a new route (the Gold Coast), larger aircraft and more people choosing to visit Queenstown by air. All our airline customers have worked hard to service Queenstown over the year. Jetstar introduced a new international route and increased its weekly capacity on the Auckland/Queenstown sector by 57 percent. Qantas introduced new flights and Air New Zealand, our largest customer, continued its support with increased volume with larger aircraft and more flights. The airport just fell short of reaching its goal of one million passengers, thanks to the impact of the Chilean volcanic ash cloud in May and June, which saw up to 50 percent of some weekly international flights cancelled. Overall though a really good performance with the seat capacity in and out of Queenstown growing by 14 percent to 1.176 million over the last year, Mr Sanderson said. Commercial activities including retail, rental car and car parking also contributed to a strong financial performance. Retail spend, especially in food and beverage and duty free, increased and demand from rental car operators remained very positive. Queenstown Airport has consolidated its position as the second largest base of New Zealand rental car operations and this activity is going from strength to strength, Mr Sanderson said. Commercial transport and car parking revenue, which increased by 16 percent for the year, was closely linked to the increased number of passengers. Continued growth at the airport had also accelerated the Master Plan and required the completion of several major strategic projects during the last year. The baggage make up area was tripled in size, additional aircraft stands and an apron extension was completed. Both the Runway End Safety Areas have recently been completed ahead of schedule.
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