Air New Zealand tips 20pc earnings jump

Air New Zealand says it is confident that it will be able to boost full year earnings by 20 per cent to more than $307m.

Air New Zealand says its on track to boost earnings by 20 per cent for the first half of the year.

This would push pre-tax earnings to $166.8 million for the six month period.

"The company has made good progress year to date and remains on target to exceed last year's earnings for the full year," the airline said in an NZX notice.

The airline said it made the forecast now it had sufficient confidence in the expected outcome of the important December month together with the greater certainty around the costs for voluntary redundancy following recent labour contract settlements.

The airline said redundancy costs are estimated at $10 million.

During the year nearly 70 staff at subsidiary Safe Air lost their jobs.

In the past financial year earnings before tax were $256 million, an increase of 172 per cent on the previous year.

It reported a net profit of $182 million for the 2012-13 full year.

Air New Zealand's profit update comes days after Australian airline Qantas warned of an underlying loss before tax in the range of A$250 million to $300 million for the six months ending December 31.

Read the airline's monthly update to the market here.