[Foreign language]. Good morning, everybody. Lovely to see some familiar faces back after a couple of years of struggling with COVID. It really is good to be meeting in person for the first time since whenever it was, the start of the pandemic. A very warm welcome to those of you who are listening online. Look, we'd love to be holding this at the airport, and we tried this year, and we're gonna keep trying, but that's our goal, so we can all come out to the company and the assets you own and have the meeting where it should be. Now, with us today are my fellow directors of Auckland Airport. If they can just put their hand up or nod their head.
Julia Hoare, Liz Savage, Tania Simpson, Christine Spring, Mark Binns, Dean Hamilton, and Mark Cairns. Mark, as in Cairns, a bit confusing having two. Liz and Christine are standing for election or re-election and will address the meeting a little later today. We'll also be hearing from Carrie Hurihanganui. I'll start calling her Carrie H, I reckon. It's all a bit of a mouthful, Carrie, who is attending her first Auckland Airport annual meeting today as our new Chief Executive. Chief Financial Officer Phil Neutze, here somewhere. There he is at the end of the table. Other executives down the front here, and our auditors from Deloitte are also with us today. We have a quorum of shareholders, so I declare the meeting open. Now, a small piece of housekeeping. The bathrooms are, I think most of you have been here before, are out the back.
If we have an emergency and have to evacuate, out the back, down the stairs and out to the car park, and there'll be airport people helping you with that. Now, a few rules for the day. Can I ask shareholders, later when we have questions, to please give their name when speaking to the resolutions and to confirm you're either a shareholder or hold a proxy. As usual, during question time, roving microphones will be available to ensure that your comments or questions are conveyed not just to us, but online. Please wait for a microphone prior to asking your questions. Those of you participating online will have the ability or have had, actually, and will have the ability to ask questions and vote through the virtual meeting platform.
A member of our team will read those questions out at the appropriate time in the meeting so everybody in the meeting can hear them. If you require any assistance with the virtual platform, just look at the guide, it's all there, or there's a helpline, so call us. We may get online some questions of a very similar nature, and so we'll amalgamate them. If anybody here or online feels their questions weren't answered, look, talk to our people after the meeting or give us a call and Carrie's team will be very happy to answer questions. Now, all of the resolutions put to shareholders today will be decided by way of a poll, and the polls will be administered by our share registry and we'll announce the results of the polls via the stock exchanges later today.
Now, the meeting order. The notice of meeting was sent to shareholders on the 23rd of September, 2022, and to the auditors of the company, and it was posted on our website. The financial statements for the year ending 13th of June 2022 and the audit report are included in the annual report, which is available online. Representatives of Deloitte are available here to answer any questions that might relate to audit matters. Now, following my address, much more importantly, Carrie will address, give you a review of the year and what's ahead of us. Then we'll consider the motions and receive any questions. We will have the three directors standing for election speak one after the other, and we'll ask them questions as a group after all three of them have spoken, if there are any.
Now, when we wrote to you a couple of months ago as part of the annual report, the recovery of air travel was just starting to ramp up. I'm pleased to say that since then, planes and travellers have continued to return, and the place is starting to buzz again. How many of you have flown domestically or internationally this year? Great. I hope the experience, you know, it's not easy getting back going. It's not always clean, but we're doing our best. There remains much hard work still to be done, but aviation's on the path to recovery now. It is important at this time to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of our team and the wider aviation workforce representing the airlines and all the agencies, especially those who worked through COVID, which was huge challenges to them for two and a half years.
It has not been easy. They've continued to turn up at work to serve customers, support airport partners, and keep New Zealand safe and connected. I know my fellow directors join me in offering our sincere thanks to those airport workers. Before I discuss financial results for 2022 and the outlook for the year ahead, just set the scene and remind us what we've been through. Today, we reflect on really an extraordinary 2022 financial year. It started with pretty severe lockdowns, then after Christmas, the beginnings of revival with the gradual easing of border and travel restrictions. Despite the volatility and the uncertainty, the team got on with the job of running New Zealand's easily the largest airport and gateway in supporting New Zealand's recovery. During those two and a half years, we've built roads, we've converted car parks, we've repaired runways.
We've restarted construction on a new hotel and kicked off two major development projects. We've created new aspirations to lead the transition to net zero for our own emissions, and we've worked really hard to continue to remind international airlines why New Zealand is a great place to fly to. At long last, we celebrated alongside travelers in the international arrivals area as the border reopened and people could reunite with family and friends. As I said, it's been an extraordinary year. As we look ahead, we must not forget that New Zealand is in a competition with other countries to attract back airlines and visitors to New Zealand. We are a long-haul destination, and while we have much to offer visitors, the reality is we're gonna have to work hard to get their attention as they have many other attractive destinations to choose from.
Now, our results, as you will have seen probably this morning, we have updated our profit guidance for the market or underlying profit after tax for the 2023 financial year. Carrie will go into more details on that. That is good news. Now, just running through the key performance numbers for the 2022 year, which really reflects a year of two halves. Now, I'm not gonna go through all the numbers 'cause the prior year comparisons and everything, it's really com you know, you start comparing apples with oranges and even within the six months. The important number probably is the underlying profit, or in this case, the underlying loss, which was a loss of, if someone will remind me, it was NZ$11.6 million.
I mean, that's not great news for shareholders, but it could have been a lot worse. If we can just scroll forward through the other numbers. Now, reflecting on these results and our agreements with our lenders, we will not consider a dividend till the end of this financial year. Hugely supported by our lenders and everything, but our understanding is that we've got to be solid and on the road to recovery. Look, things are looking good, but the earliest that dividend will be considered is the final dividend for 2023 financial year. Now, since early 2020, we've been guided by a three-stage plan to chart a course through the pandemic. We call these respond, recover, and accelerate. We're now definitely into the recovery phase.
Increasingly apparent as our national carrier and global airlines start to rebuild their connections and schedules. As families and businesses separated by COVID are able to reconnect in person once again. Our border reopened in April 2022 to visitors from Australia, followed by visitors and from visa waiver countries. As a result, international passenger numbers, including transits increased to 1.3 million in the, which is well up on the previous year. The total number of domestic passengers actually fell last year, but that was because of the huge growth in the previous year. Right now it's building and getting back to a very high capacity and actually straining the airlines very quickly. Domestic travel has really surged of late. The revival of passenger numbers is clearer every day.
Look, the prolonged downturn had a heavy impact on our broader airport community, particularly on all the businesses and people reliant on visitors to the international terminal. We all know that cascades right across New Zealand. In the 2022 financial year, we extended a further NZ$ 178 million in rent relief to our retail and commercial tenants, and about NZ$9 million to aeronautical rental and aircraft parking relief. You know, we probably had a right to. That was a voluntary thing we did, but it reflects our approach, our partnership-driven approach through the crisis. Over the past two years, the total rent relief to all those businesses, in our buildings, et cetera, it totals NZ$ 388 million, because we really wanted them to be viable and with us as the rebuild started to occur.
We also introduced a price freeze in our aeronautical charges during the 2023 financial year to support our airline partners. We're now starting to consult with airlines regarding Price Setting Event Four, which starts from 2024 through to 2027. We can finalize our capital plans as we get through that consultation. There has been a major bright spot through COVID, and that's our investment property business, which continued to perform very strongly through 2022, with the rent roll up 9% year-on-year to NZ$ 127.5 million. Overall, our investment portfolio valuation was boosted by 10% to NZ$ 2.9 billion.
Look, when you're out at the airport and you get a chance to turn right into the landside, which Mark and his team have built, it is really worth going and looking at what you own out there. It is a stunning development which people, you know, the tenants really wanna come and share. We continue to invest in this part of our business, and we announced Manawa Bay, and which is a premium fashion outlet center. We're deep in negotiations with tenants, but, you know, the response has been extremely good. With the recovery now well underway, we are focused on the future.
The board and Carrie Hurihanganui and Carrie Hurihanganui's team are working on a strategy refresh to ensure a strong and sustainable airport for the future, and we're looking forward to sharing that with you as we get through consultation on it, et cetera, in the new year. Sustainability is a key pillar in our refresh strategy, so we have set an ambitious target on our own emissions, Scope 1 and 2, and those we control to be net zero by 2030. That's gonna take some effort. I mean, the big one is heating in the terminals, transitioning from gas to electric won't be easy, but we can see our way through it, and we are committing to it. Our target excludes carbon emissions from aircraft flying to and from Auckland, which we do not control.
We will report those, and we do recognize we've got a key role in helping the airlines to adopt and implement new technologies as they become available. As I've said, Carrie will outline in more detail, we are consulting with the airlines on the major lift and investment in our airport infrastructure to really transform the airport for the rest of this century and beyond. That domestic terminal is almost 60 years old. We've stretched it and stretched it and the associated infrastructure around it. You know, it's, it really is ending, nearing the end of its life as a jet terminal. We would really like to be further advanced in its replacement, the jet facility. COVID got in the way, and it's cost us 3 years and perhaps a bit more.
We are continuing to progress that as our priority project, and you're starting to see the cranes and everything around there. That is a combined domestic and jet terminal consistent with the master plan established for the airport almost a decade ago. Associated with this is new infrastructure for regional passengers, a new baggage system, a new transport hub which you already see taking over the short-term international car park. Apologies for that, new taxiways and new terminal roading. Overall, the capital program we are consulting on would amount to the biggest infrastructure investment program in New Zealand's key airport gateway since it was opened 60 years ago. It's challenging, and as I said, COVID did not help.
We did manage to use that time, you know, the time of COVID, quiet on the airport, to do some major airside works, runway rehabilitation, which was scheduled, major upgrade to our roading. COVID has delayed us, and it only means we're gonna have to rebuild our teams to tackle a very big build ahead. It's challenging, and the construction environment is stretched. I mean, there's been huge cost escalation, but that's something we're just gonna have to deal with, and I have huge confidence in our team to do it. Now, last, getting to the end on leadership.
In February of this year, we welcomed Carrie as our new Chief Executive, and Carrie's brought an outstanding level of energy and absolute passion to deliver a quality experience for our customers and, of course, with where she's come from, a deep understanding of aviation and the airlines. Look, this will serve the airport strongly as we reposition into the future. We also, a few months ago, welcomed Mark Cairns, former Chief Executive of the Port of Tauranga, who many of you will know, to the board. Mark brings experience and expertise that will be invaluable in the next phase of the airport's life. Of course, as a new board-appointed director, he will stand for election today. The board unanimously supports Mark's election.
We also have Liz and Christine in the other ways standing for re-election this year as independent directors in line with the NZX Listing Rules, their three years being up. Liz is standing for re-election, as I said, after three years. She's chair of our Safety and Operational Risk Committee and a member of the Aeronautical Pricing Committee and of people capability and EW committee, and the board unanimously supports her re-election. Christine's actually been with the board for eight years now. She's a member of the pricing committee, the Infrastructure Development Committee and Safety and Operational Risk Committee, and until very recently, chaired that board very well. The board unanimously supports her re-election. Looking ahead, we are working very hard through Scotland's team to attract international airlines to come back to Auckland. We're having some success.
You know, we've still got a long way to go. Basically, you know, these big airlines, the international aviation industry is still building, and there's a shortage of aluminium in the skies. The passenger demand is there, but, you know, we've got to have operating aircraft to fly them. New Zealand is attractive, but so are other countries, you know, be it Australia, be it America. To rebuild the visitors market, which is so vital to this country, pre-COVID, our biggest earner and our biggest employer, we do have to step up as a nation and encourage visitors to come back here. Currently, other nations, like our friends across the Tasman, are investing heavily in encouraging airlines and international routes to fly back to Australia.
The airport's putting money behind this and I'm hopeful that our country on a wider plane will do more to rebuild visitation in our biggest industry in the months ahead. The decisions we make now will have a major bearing on the speed of our country's recovery and the future shape of what is our biggest industry, the tourism industry. At the end of another challenging year, I'd like to thank you, our investors, for your continued support. To you as customers and to our wider customers, we thank you for your patience and support as we've ramped up activities apace alongside airlines and our aviation partners to reopen Auckland Airport. It's not easy out there, and we're gonna slip up occasionally, but let's hope we only slip up once. We do appreciate your patience. Carrie, over to you.
Thank you, Patrick. [Foreign language] . It's lovely to be here in person for my first annual meeting with Auckland International Airport since joining the team in February this year. On a personal note, I would like to thank former Chief Executive Adrian Littlewood for his support during the handover, and also the board and wider team at Auckland Airport, as well as our aviation partners for the warm welcome and support I've had since joining. Now, in a moment, I will discuss the company's position, but first, it only feels right that I introduce myself to you a little bit since this is my first annual meeting. I actually arrived into New Zealand at Auckland Airport more than 30 years ago on a holiday.
I was fortunate to meet who is now my husband at the time and decided to stay here, study and eventually work my way through my degree by working as cabin crew for Air New Zealand. Now, that was the start of my 23-plus-year career in aviation, and I have developed a great passion for the industry. Now, over the years, I was able to work my way up through the business, and in 2018, I was proud to become Air New Zealand's Chief Operating Officer. To now serve as Auckland Airport's Chief Executive is a great privilege.
It's incredibly exciting and challenging time to join the organization, and I'm approaching the role with a great sense of purpose and determination to grow the potential of this business for the benefit of our customers, the community, the environment, and ultimately, the long-term prosperity of the country. Despite our full-year passenger numbers being down 13% to 5.6 million, which Patrick talked to you about, versus 2021, we are confident the numbers are heading in the right direction. By the end of October, we will have 22 airlines now operating to 38 destinations. That's well up from just 12 airlines and 21 destinations during the worst of the pandemic. This month, we are celebrating the return of two airline powerhouses, United Airlines and American Airlines, which will help to make Auckland the most connected Australasian city to North America.
Now, since joining Auckland Airport, I've taken a strong interest in our approach to sustainability and how we can further shift the dial. That will be incredibly important for us. I've also been working with the team to understand the quality of that end-to-end experience that we are providing to our customers. Our aspirations are to deliver experiences that are easy, seamless, and intuitive. I'm really excited about the restart of our infrastructure program as the platform for us for the future modern travel experience that we want to deliver. As Patrick has mentioned, we are currently underway with two major multi-year capital projects, and we're consulting with our major airline customers on the next stages for development of our combined international and domestic jet terminal.
Now, together, these projects will transform Auckland Airport to deliver the customer experience we collectively aspire to and will also assist us with our goals in sustainability. As we fold these strands of customer experience, sustainability, and transformation into the strategy work underway with the board, the overarching theme is about building the best possible future for our organization and the communities we serve. Now, I would like to provide a little bit more detail on the capital projects for transformation that Patrick was referring to. During the 2022 financial year, we continued to focus on transport improvements, core infrastructure upgrades, and enabling works to support the future terminal and new property developments with over NZ$ 250 million in capital expenditure.
Now, we invested NZ$80 million in progressing the combined domestic and international jet terminal, including design and enabling works for a new dedicated domestic jet pier, customer dwell and retail space, and smarter baggage services. Now, the exact timing of the combined jet terminal will be guided by the conclusion of airline consultation, but to give you a sense, it will be a five-year build from the point of construction commencing. This will be a once in a generation investment to create a terminal that appropriately represents its role as the gateway to New Zealand and is as seamless and efficient as the best airports in the world. I often, you know, Changi comes to mind, right? That often is brought up as a great airport experience. We want fast, easy connections between international and domestic for our customers.
Now, while the build continues, we also are focused on working with our government partners to ensure continued growth and public transport options, so that we can make it easy for travelers and workers to access the airport. In March 2022, we announced the development of Manawa Bay. This is a NZ$ 200 million plus 100-store premium outlet destination in the northeastern edge of the airport precinct. Earthworks on the 150,000 square meter site are underway, and we are experiencing strong interest with leasing. That's in progress and will be actually New Zealand's first-ever premium purpose-built outlet center. In May this year, we outlined the start of another key project, a NZ$ 300 million world-class transport hub. Now, it is much more than a car park building.
It incorporates 400 meters of public curbside pickup and drop-off and 150 spaces for electric vehicles. Now, the team has targeted a U.S.-accredited gold Parksmart standard. What is that? In effect, that is a measure of facilities that use innovative and sustainable practices. The transport hub will be about putting the customer at the center of our thinking and will be a great leap forward, sorry, to smooth out the experience for travellers arriving for and returning from their flights. Just as importantly, we have future-proofed the design so that it paves the way for future mass rapid transit and deliver customers into the heart of the precinct.
Now, when we take these projects alongside the major upgrades we've already done on the 22 kilometers of local roading network, we are making significant progress on an airport that is fit for the future for travelers, visitors, and employees in the airport community. Now, I've emphasized the focus I want to put on customers and continuing the transformation of the airport and that customer journey. To help drive this forward, we announced two key leadership changes in the team in June this year. Scott Tasker, if you want to put your hand up there, Scott, at the front here, was appointed to the role of General Manager, Customer and Aero Commercial. Now, this expands on his existing role of aeronautical, commercial, and airline relationships. It also means Scott is taking the lead on our strategy to deliver to our customers across the airport precinct. No pressure, Scott.
I was also pleased to appoint Mary-Liz Tuck. Mary-Liz, down the end there. To the position of General Manager, Strategic Infrastructure Planning and Transformation. I think it won the award for the longest title within the company. In this role, Mary-Liz will coordinate our approach to sustainability, infrastructure and master planning, and capital investment in aeronautical forecasting. Really important as we lean into this infrastructure program we have over the next five years. In November, we're also looking forward to welcoming Melanie Dooney to the leadership team as General Manager, Corporate Services. Mel is joining us from her role as Chief People Officer at Te Whatu Ora Te Toka Tumai Auckland, where she led her team through the challenges of the pandemic. The airport community was pulled in many directions over 2022.
From hard lockdowns that Patrick referred to through to a series of border reopenings that scaled over time. I really want to thank our 460 strong, capable, and committed team for their dedication, not only to serve today's travelers but to lean in and contribute to the transformational projects we have on the go. Now, amidst all the calls on people's attention over the past year, the team has remained focused on health, safety, and well-being. A priority was creating a great place for our people to work that makes not only a positive contribution to their well-being, but also where they can bring their whole selves to work.
Our health and well-being focus extended to our wider community, and it seems like a lifetime ago when we ran the vaccination drive, but our team volunteered 350 hours of their time after we provided the long-term parking facility of Park & Ride at no cost for use as Park & Vax. Dozens of our people worked alongside health workers to keep the site flowing and safely managed. That saw 155,000 vaccinations delivered between September 2021 and January 2022. That, along with the redeployment of our Park & Ride buses as mobile health clinics, we're incredibly proud of the efforts we contributed to make vaccines accessible for the community. I guess as we reflect on the community, it's also acknowledged that the location of Auckland Airport is of historical and cultural significance to Māori.
In keeping with this, we've worked alongside local iwi on the design and delivery of the projects across the precinct. This includes the transport hub, terminal development, and Manawa Bay. Creating pathways into sustainable employment requires patience and understanding. Our partnership with the New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network and Ara Education Charitable Trust provided an 8-week program for 16 mentor-student pairs, and provided coaching and exposure to diverse work opportunities. We were really pleased it had overwhelmingly positive feedback. In a similar vein, we continued to support the Life Education Trust Counties Manukau and the ASB Polyfest. Our Auckland Airport Community Trust granted more than NZ$ 368 thousand to a range of community groups in a year when calls for health, well-being, and social support were greater than ever. Now, Patrick touched on sustainability.
We are developing new aspirations for sustainability at Auckland Airport. This includes targeting a 90% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 emissions from that 2019 baseline to achieve a net zero carbon emission by 2030. Now, to be frank, we are currently sitting below our 2019 financial year baseline. However, the reality is this has more to do with disrupted operations than it does a substantive change at this time. Now we've signed up to the Climate Leaders Coalition Statement of Ambition, and we are conscious that we will not achieve these ambitious targets by continuing to do things the way that we've always done them.
In line with this, our terminal air conditioning system is actually the largest in New Zealand, so tremendous opportunity, and we're phasing out the use of natural gas as a source of space and water heating and cooling. It will see us have the first air source heat pump to replace our natural gas boilers, and this will be installed next year as a proof of concept towards our gas-free future. Auckland Airport will also use electricity generated from a mix of on-site and off-site renewable energy sources. We're transitioning our transport fleet to electric vehicles or hybrids where feasible, but we do need to call out the likes of fire trucks, marine rescue vehicles, and hovercraft will remain diesel-powered due to just the sheer lack of alternatives currently available. However, we will still continue to monitor for opportunities in this space.
Wherever possible, we're also striving to help our customers, airways, and airlines to reduce their emissions. These Scope 3 emissions are beyond our absolute control. However, we can and we will invest to support our stakeholders to reduce their emissions. We've also set specific targets to reduce waste to landfill and potable water use by 20%, so those are Scope 3 emissions that we believe we can have a direct impact on. Now, I'm conscious that some of the examples I've provided are anecdotal, so for more detail, please do refer to our website for our full climate change disclosure report. We prepared this in line with the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Now, as you may have seen in our market announcement this morning, Auckland Airport has revised our guidance and outlook.
Guidance of underlying profit after tax of between NZ$ 100 million-NZ$ 130 million is now being provided for the 2023 financial year. An uplift on guidance comparatively to what we provided in August of between NZ$ 50 million-NZ$ 100 million. This is as a result of aviation's strong performance, both domestically and internationally. We've experienced stronger than expected rebound in the aviation market, particularly in the North and South American, South Pacific, and Trans-Tasman markets. Looking ahead, there is more certainty on the performance of the market over the coming months with high aircraft load factors. Anyone that's flown may have experienced those high load factors. We are seeing that the forward international seat capacity continues to be stronger than expected.
Now, overall, we're increasingly confident that aviation is returning to normal, and I will use inverted brackets on that because we are in a new normal. Now, with the structure of the market becoming more balanced across both inbound and outbound, as well as business, family and friends, and leisure traffic. That's really important. When you start to see that balance out again, that gives a real indication of the stability of the market in play. Now, for the full 2023 financial year, we are now anticipating international passengers, some numbers will be between 60%-70% of pre-COVID levels and domestic passenger numbers being between 85% and 90%.
We have also adjusted our outlook, which is in line with the International Air Transport Association's view that the global industry will recover to pre-pandemic or 2019 levels by the end of the 2024 calendar year. Our capital expenditure guidance, however, for the 2023 financial year remains the same. We haven't changed that, and that sits at between NZ$ 600 million and NZ$ 700 million, reflecting a number of roading, airfield, and investment property projects, alongside with that combined domestic and international jet terminal that we've talked about before. The capital investment plan is considered within our consultation on aeronautical pricing under Price Setting Event Four and could change subject to the conclusion of consultation with airlines.
Finally, I would like to thank all of our partners, from government agencies to airlines, service providers, and infrastructure and construction partners for their support, communication, and adaptability during a period that has been tremendous and rapid change. We certainly couldn't have done it without them. [Foreign language]
Thank you, Carrie. Now to the resolutions. As I mentioned, voting on all resolutions will be conducted by way of poll. You may ask questions on each matter being put to shareholders in person or through the virtual meeting website. If you are voting as a shareholder, proxy holder, or as a corporate rep, please use the voting paper handed to you at registration this morning. Shareholders joining online will be able to cast their vote using the electronic voting card received when online registration is validated. To vote, you will need to click Get Voting Card within the online meeting platform. You'll be asked to enter your shareholder or proxy number to validate. Please then mark your voting card in the way you wish to vote by clicking for, against, or abstain on the voting card.
Once you've made your selection, you single-click Submit Vote on the bottom of the card to lodge your vote. If you have any trouble, just refer to the virtual meeting online portal guide or use the helpline 0800 200 220 if you require any assistance. Proxies. We've received proxies from about 943 shareholders, representing just a little over 1 billion shares. Shareholders, the constitution allows for a maximum of eight directors. As I mentioned earlier, we have three directors offering themselves for election or re-election. We're gonna ask the directors to each address the meeting, and we'll take any questions from the floor or online for any of them after all three have spoken. We will then request shareholders to cast their votes for those resolutions. Ordinary Resolution one is the election of Mark Cairns. Mark was welcomed to the board on the first of June.
The board unanimously recommends that you vote in favor of Mark's re-election, and he is considered by the board to be an independent non-executive director. Mark.
Thank you, Chair. Nau mai, haere mai, tēnā tātou katoa. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and fellow shareholders. I was delighted to have the opportunity to join the Auckland board back in April, earlier this year. You have details on my background and qualifications in the notice of meeting. I'm a civil engineer by profession and a fellow of Engineering New Zealand. Last year, I retired as chief executive of NZX-listed Port of Tauranga, New Zealand's largest and most successful port, to pursue a full-time governance career. I'm also currently chairman of Freightways Limited, a director of Sanford Limited and Meridian Energy Limited. I retire from Meridian Energy next year after completing my nine-year term on that board.
From the Port of Tauranga and previous roles at Toll Holdings and Fulton Hogan, I bring extensive commercial experience from senior management roles and business operations at scale, including significant exposure to capital markets. 20 years ago, I was a member of the New Zealand Standards Committee, which developed NZS 3910, New Zealand's most widely used general conditions of contract for building and civil engineering contracts. This gives me strong insights into selecting the form of contract that is most appropriate for a particular project, and then apportioning risk to whichever party is best able to manage and price this risk. Over my 40-year career, I have completed numerous large-scale engineering construction projects within time, cost, and quality expectations, both as a contractor and more lately as a principal or owner.
These are highly relevant skills and experience to bring to our board table in view of our multi-billion NZD capital development program over the coming years. I consider that Auckland Airport is an excellent company with a great future. We have invaluable strategic landholdings and an outstanding management team. I seek your support to serve you as a director. Ngā mihi. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
Thanks, Mark. Let's move to resolution 2, which is the re-election of Liz Savage. Liz was appointed as a director of the company at our 2019 annual meeting. The board unanimously recommends that you vote in favor of Liz's re-election, and she is considered by the board to be an independent non-executive director. Liz.
Thanks, Patrick. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa. Good morning, everyone. I last addressed you at my initial election some three years ago. I joined the board just prior to the onset of a global pandemic. Great timing on my part, I think. It's fair to say that the agenda through that time turned out to be somewhat different to that which was set out when I joined. There's been many challenges as you've heard today, but as I look ahead, there are tremendous opportunities for us, too. The rebuild of travel and tourism is now well underway. I'm bringing my career-long expertise in the airline business and in tourism to help assist in that rebuild and to help the board think through our opportunities ahead. I'm based in Australia, that's our biggest source market of international customers.
I bring relevant perspectives too from my other board roles. That's in airports, global travel operations, hospitality, and workforce management. As you've heard, we've got significant infrastructure developments ahead, and safety of work of our people and contractors on these programs is gonna be a very big focus for the Board's Safety and Operational Risk Committee, of which I'm now the committee chair. You've also heard from Carrie Hurihanganui, an important priority ahead is around sustainability and climate adaptation. I'm particularly passionate about how we accelerate our progress as an airport operator and also about how we create change through the aviation system overall. I enjoy my role very much, and it's such a pleasure to work with such a talented team of committed colleagues. Should you decide to re-elect me today for a further term, it would be my absolute privilege to serve you, our shareholders.
Thanks, Liz. Now to ordinary resolution three, which is the re-election of Christine Spring. Christine was appointed as a director of the company at our 2014 annual meeting. The board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of Christine's re-election. She is considered by the board to be an independent non-executive director. Christine.
[Foreign language] . Shareholders, Patrick, board, and Carrie in management. I'm honored and humbled to have the support of the board and to present myself to shareholders for consideration for re-election. As Patrick just mentioned to you, I joined the board in 2014 with a background that included 20 years in the strategic planning and development of aviation assets, as well as a focus on environmental management, aeronautical pricing, safety and operational risk management. My work included significant periods of executive level, both actually at Auckland Airport and Melbourne Airport, as well as consulting for numerous New Zealand and global airports, including a 2-year stint at Abu Dhabi Airport. Since joining the Auckland Airport board, I've contributed to the Aeronautical Pricing Committee, the Infrastructure Development, Audit and Financial Risk Committees.
As Patrick did mention, I've just finished 5 years as chair of the Safety and Operational Risk Committee, which has been a huge privilege, and I'm looking forward to the possibility of working with Liz on that committee if we're both re-elected. A chapter that will heavily influence and needing to be mindful of as we move forward is climate change impacts sustainability. We've heard Carrie talk about that today. There's also the importance of cultural diversity, the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, as well as swiftly evolving technology developments that can enable significant operational efficiencies at our airport. From my role as the director of Western Sydney International Airport, and for those that don't know, it's the new second Sydney-based airport that's currently under construction.
As chair of its Design and Construction Committee, as well as being a member of its Technology Committee, I've spent the past 5 years focused on the understandings of principles of the latest terminal and technology developments. I believe this knowledge and understanding would aid a future governance role for me with Auckland Airport. Over the past 8 years, I've diversified my governance work through roles with Holmes Group and 5 years with Unison Networks. I'm currently also chair of a business group. For those of you don't know, it's a landscaping and architectural planning practice, and I'm a director of New Zealand Wind Farms. In my heart, I am an engineer who cares passionately about creating businesses and community assets that are sustainable and committed to aiding and caring for our land, our people, our economy, and our future. I believe Auckland Airport is a superb company.
It's got a diverse whānau of board, CEO, employees, and you, committed shareholders that I believe together embody the manaakitanga and kaitiakitanga of this extraordinary place of journey. You know, to me, it's a place we can fly, we work, we rest, we can sleep, we can shop, we can relax. But it's a place that has become, to me, it's a dream enabler. I look forward to the opportunity as aeronautical activity reinvigorates and commercial property continues to grow, particularly with the evolution of Manawa Bay, as you've heard about today. That I'd be super proud to continue serving as a director. As I noted earlier, I'm honored to be considered for re-election today. Ngā mihi. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Christine. I now move that Mark Cairns be elected as a director of the company. I move that Liz Savage be reelected as a director of the company, and I move that Christine Spring be reelected as a director of the company. Are there any questions to the three directors on the floor? I don't see any. Louise, any online?
There are no online questions.
Thank you. If there are no further questions on that matter from shareholders. Now to resolution 4. Deloitte is automatically reappointed this year as the auditor of the company under Section 207T of the Companies Act 1993. I move that directors be authorized to fix the fees and expenses of the auditor. Are there any questions or online, Louise?
There are no online questions.
Okay. We will now conduct the polls in respect of the motions put to the meeting. The poll will be administered by our share registry, as I said, Link Market Services, and they will also act as scrutineers. Please complete the voting paper by ticking for, against, or abstain. Anyone who has any difficulty, just raise your hand and someone will come and help you. Link Market Services will move through the room to collect your voting papers. Those of you online and participating through the virtual meeting website should now submit your votes. The results from the polls will be announced through the NZX and ASX and to the media later today. Now we get to your part of the meeting.
I now invite shareholders to raise any questions or comments or discussion related to the presentations, the annual report, the financial statements, or any other topics concerning the governance or management of the companies. Again, those shareholders participating online can submit questions through the virtual meeting website. Please keep your questions short and clear. It's not really an opportunity for a long speech, please. For those of you today who don't get a question addressed or don't get the opportunity, we've got the team here, Carrie and all her team she introduced. We're very happy, or the board, catch them over refreshments afterwards, and we're very happy to address them and have a chat to you. If you don't recognize the board, I think they've all got tags on. It actually says that my suit's stone's red, but I think they're black.
Am I right? We have to get something wrong. Okay. Shareholders, corporate reps, or proxy holders wishing to speak here, please put your hand up and we'll get a microphone to your side. Just say who you're representing or as a shareholder before you speak. One microphone on its way.
Rachel Zo, a shareholder, and thank you, all and team, for that detailed presentation. I've got two questions, first of which is, in regards to, I guess, interest rates and with the increase in interest rates, what, I guess what effect does that have on projects and the future of the projects and the overall portfolio? and I'll ask the second one, I guess, after.
Interest rates are certainly headed north, and that increases costs, potentially increases charges, of course, 'cause we get a return. But frankly, on our long-term infrastructure projects, it has very little. These are generational infrastructure projects and, you know, we'd rather not see inflation and construction inflation, but they need to be built, so we will build them. Nothing ever gets less expensive. We do have the financial capacity, Phil, to do these projects. Your second one.
Yep. Second question is in regards to the profit after tax. It looks like there's quite a large decrease in about almost 60% in the profit after tax, and I guess what was the main contribution to that decrease?
Yeah. Are we talking underlying profit after tax?
Yes, profit after tax.
Yeah, b ecause, you know, in underlying we take out. Phil, do you wanna. I don't know if your microphone's on.
Can you hear me? Yep.
I'll let you try and take that one.
Yes. I think the question relates to reported profit after tax, and we include in that revaluations. The FY 21 year had something like a NZ$ 500 million uplift in our investment property portfolio valuation, as well as property, plant, and equipment. We had less of that in the last twelve months. In fact, once you adjust that out, our underlying profit or loss for the year was an improvement on the previous year.
Thank you for two excellent questions. Any other hands here? Yes, sir. Just the microphone's about four seconds away.
Yes. Good afternoon. John Hunt, Shareholder. I wanted to know how the planning for the railway station is proceeding in view of the difficulties of getting to the airport.
There's actually two things. First of all, there's a heavy rail link which goes to Puhinui, if you know that station.
I do.
Have you been to Puhinui in the last year? Actually, an excellent facility built.
I've used the bus service, but I'd like the rail please.
Yeah. That's obviously outside our bailiwick. I'll make a personal comment that we think that is a very vital transit link to the airport. The road has been upgraded, Puhinui. We've got the transport from the station. There is some investment I think required by KiwiRail and like a third track to really make that hum. We would certainly be a backer of that to the government and to the new mayor if, you know. We do see that as a pretty key link. Longer term, obviously, there's talk of, you know, the prospect of light rail to the airport. All we can say on that is all our plans and everything, we have facility to bring a light rail should it come right to the terminals. We have left that space and planned for it.
Whether it will happen, when it will happen, well, wiser people than I can opine on that. An excellent question. We do know that travel to the airport, you know, it's not always easy. The new George Bolt Drive investment, if you have to drive, and more people are driving at the moment because of COVID, has certainly lifted things once you get onto George Bolt. I think you'll all see that. I mean, it was a big investment that Andre and his team put in, but it is certainly streamlining traffic round our environs better. There's still challenges and particularly as you do construction and car parks have to be moved. We're doing our best. We know it's not always perfect, but I think once we complete the cycle of investment you'll be pretty pleased.
Yes, rail, I think, is a key link.
That's not the only issue. Last time we went to the airport we finished parking outside the DHL building.
Yeah. Look, we had a little bit of lumpy times, I think it's fair to say, to Carrie 'cause we had to take a whole lot of parking out in order to build things. When did you last go out there?
That was about a month ago.
Yeah. I do park there too sometimes. It is the wayfinding and the parking has improved a lot, but it's still pretty crowded, I gotta say, and we're committed, Mark, to meeting it and, you know, aviation's come back a bit quicker than many people expected, and more people are driving their cars to the airport, which is a COVID impact. Look, talk to Mark on the end there about what we're doing, and very happy to tell you what we're doing.
Can I add to that?
Yeah, absolutely.
Sorry. If I could just add to that. Can you hear me okay?
Stand up to the mic.
Patrick's absolutely right and one of the things that we are working through is that infrastructure program that we're talking to you about is the next five years plus, and we're acutely aware of ensuring that we're providing good options for our customers while in construction. That's not an excuse for us not to provide a seamless experience. There are things like you're currently experiencing, that the parking is further away than it was because of that, Parking A, that short-term parking. The transport hub pickup and drop off will open around this time next year, and then the full facility with all the parking will open in 2024. We are in the cycle, but that long-term outcome that Patrick referred to is absolutely high on the agenda.
Thanks. Any more questions from the floor here? One here. Microphone's on its way.
Richard Myers, shareholder. Earlier in the meeting mention was made of a dividend. I'd like a reply how that would be considered by the board and, you know, bearing in mind with what's going on in the company and also bearing in mind the capital raise that the company had. I think from my point of view as a shareholder, that was a golden opportunity to purchase further shares in the company.
Yeah. I mean, those who participated in that have certainly done well. We thank you all for, you know, the support we had in pretty trying times in raising NZ$ 1.2 billion. Look, the dividend will be considered by the board in the second half of the year, and it will get a lot of attention, including the underlying policy, and that's about as much as I can make of it. I know, look, dividends are important to many shareholders, but we've also gotta be, you know, look at how strong the recovery is, the other, you know, where we sit. We will spend a lot of time in the second half and look at it with a final dividend for fiscal year 2023.
If you wanna chat at all about, you know, how we do look at those things, the man's at the end of the table. Any more from the floor? On here.
Mohammed Naqsh, shareholder. You all right? Yeah. First of all, congratulations for Mark Cairns. A man with such a great experience, especially in the engineering field. My other question is to Liz Savage. That'll be an interesting read. You are stationed in Australia. Could you elaborate a little bit how you manage your operation from there?
Yeah. No, as you come up, Liz, I will say, look, Liz brings enormous with her background in aviation capability of the board. I'll just comment that the fact that she's in Australia and she comes over here for all the board meetings, though we were all on Zoom for a long time, it's seamless. It's very important for a board to have that wider view of the aviation community. I will say from the chair's point of view, that the fact that Liz sits in Brisbane is probably a plus, and her participation doesn't matter whether you live in Queenstown or Brisbane or Matapouri or Auckland. I don't see any difference between any of the directors. Liz.
Thank you, and thank you for the question. Yes, yeah. As Patrick said, I'm very much committed to being here at each and every meeting cycle. That was obviously a huge challenge during COVID. It was impossible during COVID for a period of time. Since then, it's been lovely to be back here each and every meeting opportunity. I also do, because of the travel schedules, build in time around that to try and engage with the team or do the usual walks around the airport and see, you know, for myself firsthand what is going on as well. I think I'm fair to say it's being managed well.
As Patrick's also touched on, you know, the view of being on the ground in our biggest source market for customers is actually quite a unique perspective I'm able to bring to discussions at certain points in time. I hope that's very much, you know, a value add that I bring to the board and to the company. Thank you.
Yeah. We're gonna go online in a minute, but we've got one more over there.
Thank you. Karen Jacka, Shareholder. Just expanding on the parking. Has that area where the car rental, I think it was used to be the parking, building D, undercover. Has that area been changed since the last month? Because in early September, when we returned, getting from the terminal back to the car, which was parked beyond that old building, was a real rigmarole with the trolleys. We had to backtrack because there was barriers everywhere.
Yeah, good question. Mark, do you wanna stand up and just from the floor, give a quick Mark Thomson.
Thanks for the question. Look, firstly, one of the things we've had to manage in the last 12 months is how we manage some very large construction projects right outside the terminal and also manage increased demand on car parking. We have created a few new car parks and activated some new areas. A large part of that is actually making sure how we can get covered access to all car parks back to the terminal.
I'm not sure exactly the car park you're referring to, but what we are really endeavoring to do all the way through is to make sure that wherever people are parking, how they access the airport, how they access those car parks, how they get to the terminal, is the best experience we can manage, given the short-term nature of the project. The really key thing to not lose sight of here is that the investment we're putting in the transport hub is gonna completely change the experience of arrival for people by vehicles, by buses, public transport, commercial transport. There is a little bit of inconvenience that comes with that, which is shutting down our biggest area.
We really appreciate, you know, the patience and understanding as we work through that. We're 12 months away from that first big change when we open up our first phase of that building and then another year after that. It's a really exciting project and we really appreciate your understanding if there is some inconvenience during that period. We welcome any discussion after this about some of that feedback so we can address any particular concerns.
Thank you. Yeah. Look, I can tell your directors gives them lots of feedback too, so. We know there is hiccups and look, let us know if little things were really important, like couldn't get the trolley over the curb. I mean, we don't always get it right, and we wanna hear about it. Any more here? Louise, you have the online ones.
Yes, we currently have six questions. The first one is, given the focus on real estate development such as Manawa Bay, how would you describe the risk to Auckland Airport if property valuations decrease in coming years? And how have you sought to mitigate any risk?
I'd rate it as low, and I hesitate to make Mark answer another question. I don't think it's necessary. The whole rental, long-term rental structure with collars and all sorts of things is a high degree of protection against property value downturn. I mean, I won't go into the details, but I think, Mark, it's fair to say that, you know, those are locked in under arrangements where the investment is protected. Both. I mean, there's an upside if rents go up, but that's usually kept to some extent for the tenant. There's very much a downside protection, so we lock in the value at the start. Happy, Mike, Mark?
Yeah, I think that's good. I think one key thing to point out is we actually have one of the longest weighted average lease terms relative to the institutional sector. We are very long-term weighted income protection to an enviable group of tenants. We have one of the most risk-protected investment portfolios, and around about 60% of it is under 10 years old. We have a very, very strong portfolio to withstand market movement.
Thanks. Louise?
We have a question from one of our previous Bluecoats. Will the volunteer hospitality ambassadors Bluecoats be reinstated?
I mean, reading that question, I understand 25 years in that role from the person that raised the question, so congratulations on that timeframe. We did touch base with the ambassadors in June this year, and because there was still quite a significant amount of Omicron in the community, from a health and safety perspective, we didn't re-initiate there. We are in the midst of rebuilding our core workforce, as we are seeing activity picking back up again. That is the focus as a priority. We will continue to review it, and we will certainly touch base with the ambassadors to let them know where we land on that as we go forward. We'll stay in touch.
The next question, the last two years have been very challenging for the business. This provided an opportunity to upgrade facilities without affecting the traveling public and operations. Now, with the recovery of business occurring, what plans do you have to speed up construction to take advantage of more construction resources being available?
If you wanna handle this or shall I?
It's a great question. Actually, we did take advantage of the last two years. We mentioned before, so NZ$ 240 million has been invested in the last couple of years with COVID on everything from pavement replacements to airfield roading, et cetera. Fewer planes and fewer cars make it much easier to do that construction work. As we go forward with the infrastructure program, now that is starting to pick up pace, there's key things around things such as Building Information Modelling technology that we're using, as well as learning some previous large construction projects that allow us in that continuous improvement method. Also the way that Andre and the team have created the work packages, it means that we've got flexibility that we can do discrete pieces even though they're interlinked.
Again, that piece of not wanting to disrupt our travelers, but needing to get on and get the work done. Very focused in working through that together.
Next question. Why isn't it possible to hold the meeting at the airport? Is there a cost associated with not holding it there?
Look, I mentioned this. We'd love to hold it there, but we've got to have a facility to do it, and this year it was just too hard.
It was booked out.
Yeah, things were booked. We'll have to learn to book a bit earlier, to be honest. Our own facilities, really. Yeah, we're pretty committed. We can't see Libby. Libby, can we promise for next year? There's a yes. Thanks for the question. I'm totally with you. Yeah.
Next question. Would you please provide some commentary regarding the building of the second runway? Of interest is when the runway will be ready for service to ensure New Zealand's primary international air gateway is able to operate with minimal delays to airlines due to various matters.
Yeah, I think I can. Look, we have done an enormous amount of work to get that consented and really ready to go. It is a huge investment. Right now, all I can say is it'll be sometime in the 2030s. You know, the risk is always the consenting one. It's gonna take a while to build. It's gonna be a few years before we have to commit to, and it'll very much depend on what happens in aviation. The good news is all the hard work done in Adrian's time is we have that all consented, sitting there, designed and ready to go. That's the uncertain part. Next one.
Auckland Airport has very valuable land. I understand a retaining wall will be built to delay rising sea levels. Will this be enough to stop flooding? I note that two Queensland airports had their runways underwater earlier this year because of extreme rainfall events.
You wanna do it? I can do it. Yes. Look, Auckland doesn't wanna go back to float planes, does it? We've done studies that look all the way out past the end of the century. Flooding, you know, we've got to do some things to get the stormwater away. The airport will be above the waterline and the surge line for our lives and probably our kids' lives. That's one thing we're pretty robust in. There are other issues. I mean, we're gonna make sure people can get to the airport. There'll be some roading things that Auckland Transport and people have to think about. No, the airport is solid, and we've done those studies.
Next question is on solar energy. I appreciate the efforts made for a more sustainable environment. Are future buildings going to have solar energy, and will any older buildings be retrofitted with solar?
Carrie?
We are actually, as part of our review of on-site and off-site renewable energy. Solar is certainly something we're looking at. What we do have the interesting and probably less about retrofitting older buildings and more about the potential on newer buildings. That is something we are absolutely looking at, but also locations. Things like solar farming work well when proximity and how that comes together, the way that the precinct is laid out. You have near the airport, largely that land is utilized. You'd have to go across Puhinui Bridge and out quite far for that element to potentially work. We don't have an answer yet, but it is absolutely on our agenda that on-site renewable energy is a key pillar of our sustainability strategy.
We'll be looking into what we could potentially do in that space.
We've got quite a few on the board heavily steeped in the electricity industry. I must say, one of New Zealand's great assets is its renewable energy portfolio, both existing and prospective, which helps us, you know. Providing we haven't had a bad winter and haven't had to warm up, which is unusual, is pretty green. Next one.
There are no further online questions.
Okay. Thank you for that. One question. We'll allow one. Absolutely.
Hello. Gordon Wallace, shareholder. You had a shareholder comment about the meeting at the airport. Look, I wanna thank you very much for doing this occasion for us because, and, you know, you've done it. SkyCity, for some reason, doesn't wanna do it. No, but I mean it. This is the only time once a year that shareholders can have the opportunity to answer questions. Also, a follow-up question. When you go online, you know yourself, you're a blank face, and at the same time, you can't communicate so freely. Well, Liz Savage has just said that in a way of popping over and saying hello to us again. No, thank you for that. That's all I'm saying is that, thanks for making this happen for us all.
Oh, thanks, Gordon. You've got a pretty old-fashioned group here. We still believe that annual meetings in person are important.
Just don't die, everybody.
Are an important part. We'll be doing them for a while yet.
Just one other thing. Your timing. Doesn't matter where you have it. At 10 o'clock, I'm just wondering if you could just flexible a bit more by about half an hour, because getting here is not easy.
Okay. Libby, noted. Okay, let's move to the poll. We'll now conduct the polls in respect to the motions put to the meeting. Poll administered by Link. They're also scrutineers. Actually, I think we've got through that, haven't we? I'm doubling myself. I think we're to the point where we can close the meeting. Look, thank you, everybody, for those questions. Those are actually some of the best questions I've heard at an annual meeting, so it speaks to the quality of our shareholders, I think. As I said, your ongoing support for the airport through some pretty difficult times is really appreciated. I invite you all to join us for refreshments and to grab Mark and anybody else you wanna talk to. Sorry, Mark. I declare the meeting closed.