Air New Zealand (ASX:AIZ, NZE:AIR) said just over 83% of its flights arrived within 15 minutes of schedule in July, marking a 6.4 percentage point gain from a year earlier even as weather-related delay minutes rose 74%, according to a Wednesday statement.

The company said it saw 246 fewer cancellations in July compared with last year as it improved disruption recovery through new technology.

One of the top contributors to the annual improvement was a 41% decline in reactionary delay minutes, or when a delay to one flight has a knock-on effect on other flights later in the day. Compared with July 2025, 1,366 fewer flights were affected by knock-on delays, the company said.

"International on-time performance improved by more than nine percentage points, while Auckland, our largest and most complex operation, improved by almost 10 percentage points," said Kate Boyer, chief operations officer, ground and in-flight.

Air New Zealand noted, however, that on-time performance eased from 86% in June.

The company's New Zealand shares rose 1% in recent Wednesday trade, while its Australian shares fell 1%.