Air New Zealand's long-haul passenger numbers fell 4.3 per cent in January.
Long-haul total passengers carried were down to 149,000 in January from 156,000 in the same month a year earlier.
There was a 5.5 per cent decline on North America/UK routes to 88,000 and a 2.7 per cent fall on Asia/Japan/UK routes to 62,000.
The airline blamed the impact from the Canterbury and Japan earthquakes for declining numbers on Japanese routes.
The shares fell 3.4 per cent to a month-low 86.5 cents in trading on Wednesday.
Domestic passenger numbers were flat at 583,000, while Tasman/Pacific numbers fell 1.4 per cent to 248,000.
The group's passenger numbers fell 1 per cent to 980,000 in the month, and were down 0.7 per cent to 7.73 million in the financial year-to-date.
The airline told analysts and investors in November it's aiming for a $110 million profit improvement by 2015 from long-haul flights, which are now an under-performing part of the company.
NZN