Christchurch Airport

Christchurch International Airport considering bond offer

The airport's bottom line was affected by the pandemic, as international traveller numbers fell by 95 percent.

This contributed to about $21 million in lost earnings.

Despite the various lockdowns in the past 12 months, domestic tourism fell just 6 percent to 3.6m.

Total traveller numbers through the airport fell from 5.2m in the past financial year to 3.7m.

"We spent seven years building the business back better after the earthquakes," CIAL chief executive Malcolm Johns said.

Christchurch Airport breaks even in first half of financial year under domestic model

But, the overall profits are a stark contrast to previous years – and there is no guarantee the city council, which partly owns the airport, will receive a dividend.

The airport confirmed a net profit after tax of just $1.2 million when it announced its results for the first half of the 2021 financial year, July 2020 to December 2020, on Thursday.

The airport had a net profit after tax of $47.8m in the full financial year for 2020, while in 2019 it was $57.4m.