Air New Zealand operated 12,279 flights in June 2026 with 86% arriving within 15 minutes of schedule, a significant year-on-year improvement from the 78.3% recorded in June 2025, despite a month marked by considerable operational challenges including a fire at Wellington Airport and periods of severe winter weather.
While the result was slightly below May’s record 89.1%, Chief Operations Officer Kate Boyer said the June figure reflected real progress in building a more resilient network.
“June was another solid month for our operations. Despite those challenges, our overall on-time performance improved by almost eight percentage points compared with June last year with every part of our network contributing to that improvement,” said Boyer.
One of the key drivers of the improvement was a more than 50% reduction in reactionary delays — the knock-on effect of one delayed flight disrupting the rest of the day’s schedule — compared to June 2025. Faster recovery from disruption is enabling the airline to contain problems before they cascade across the timetable.
Controllable cancellations fell sharply to just 0.7% of scheduled flights, down from 1.7% in June last year. Total cancellations were higher at 3.3%, but Boyer noted these were largely driven by external factors beyond the airline’s control.
“That shows the areas we can directly influence continue to improve, even when operating conditions become more challenging,” she said. “Building a more resilient airline starts with getting the basics right.”
Air New Zealand says it is now applying lessons from improvements made to its regional schedule across the wider jet network through schedule adjustments and operational discipline initiatives.
