AUCKLAND, New Zealand--Auckland International Airport's first-half earnings plummeted as the coronavirus pandemic froze international travel.

New Zealand's main international gateway on Thursday reported a net profit of 28.1 million New Zealand dollars ($20.3 million) for July-December, down 81% from a year earlier.

Excluding a property valuation gain and other one-time factors, the airport operator had an underlying loss of NZ$10.5 million for the six months.

The company said its recovery to a large extent depends on people being able to travel between Australia and New Zealand without having to quarantine.

Its forecast of an underlying loss of NZ$35 million to NZ$55 million for the full financial year assumes New Zealand does not allow quarantine-free travel in that timeframe.

The airport operator, which raised NZ$1.2 billion in new equity last year to ride out the pandemic, said it was continuing to reduce capital expenditure. It plans to spend between NZ$200 million and NZ$230 million in the current financial year, down from its previous plan of NZ$250 million to NZ$300 million.

Write to Stephen Wright at stephen.wright@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-17-21 1538ET