Ratings agency S&P Global has given Auckland Airport something of a vote of confidence by maintaining it as the best-rated airport in New Zealand and Australia.
Passengers arriving at Auckland Airport in January 2020. Photo: RNZ / Liu Chen
The agency reaffirmed Auckland's A-minus rating with a stable outlook, saying its quick move to raise $1.2 billion in extra capital through a share float had given it the resources to see it through the downturn caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The stable outlook on Auckland Airport reflects the airport's substantial equity raising in April 2020 (soon after the COVID-19 lockdown) to support the balance sheet and provide liquidity at least for the next 15 months," the report said.
The country's other two international gateways - Wellington and Christchurch - did not fare so well. Both were downgraded one notch.
"We lowered the ratings on Christchurch and Wellington airports, because we expect them to operate with weaker metrics for the foreseeable future," S&P said.
Wellington - two-thirds owned by utilities investor Infratil, with the Wellington City Council holding the balance - was dropped to BBB with a negative outlook, while Christchurch - fully owned by the local city council - was rated BBB-plus with a stable outlook.
S&P Global said it expected no meaningful recovery for any of the eight large airports on both sides of the Tasman any time soon.
"We retain a negative outlook on the sector reflecting uncertainty on the pace, extent, and timing of recovery of air travel, particularly the level of international traffic. We believe it will take at least six to 12 months for some visibility on the travel market and confidence in the recovery path to occur."
It suggested domestic travel might recover by 2022/23 and international air travel the year after.
In April, Auckland Airport handled a total of just 43,347 passengers compared with close to 1.8 million the same month a year earlier.
The ratings report came as Air New Zealand announced it was resuming a second international service next week, a weekly return Auckland-Shanghai service, on top of the weekly Auckland-Narita Tokyo service.
The carrier is operating about half of its normal domestic services.
