Air New Zealand's chief executive warns that their fares are unlikely to go back to pre-pandemic levels.

The company today reported a full-year underlying profit of $585 million on operating revenue of $6.3 billion, up 9 per cent on pre-Covid levels.

This result is a turnaround on pre-tax losses of $725m last year. 

CEO Greg Foran says customers should expect prices to come down as they add more seats, but they'll never match 2019's offerings.

"There are so many dynamics at play, but if I look ahead and say- what's going to happen to, say, North America over Christmas? We've got about 40 percent more capacity in there, we're back flying to what we were- I think we'll see prices ease."

LISTEN ABOVE