(Reuters) - Air New Zealand Ltd <AIR.NZ> warned on Wednesday higher than expected jet fuel prices could hurt profitability in 2019.
Chairman Tony Carter told the airline's annual shareholder meeting that prices lately had outpaced the $85 per barrel the company had assumed in its 2019 financial year earnings guidance.
Jet fuel is now trading at $93.71 a barrel, tempering the financial outlook for airlines globally. <JET-SIN>
"As we look forward to the year ahead, we are optimistic about market dynamics and demand trends, but note that the current levels of jet fuel price will be a headwind on profitability compared to the prior year," Carter said.
Last month, Air New Zealand said its pretax profit would fall by up to 21 percent from last year's $NZ540 million in the current financial year due to higher fuel prices.
The airline has forecast underlying pretax profit in a range of NZ$425 million to NZ$525 million for the financial year ending June 30.
Shares of Air New Zealand fell 1.6 percent to a seven-month low in a marginally weaker overall market <.NZ50>.
($1 = 1.3738 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Aditya Soni in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Jamie Freed; Editing by Stephen Coates and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
