Air New Zealand passenger numbers fell 2 percent in June over the year earlier, reflecting a sharp increase in jet fuel prices sparked by the Middle East conflict.While the national carrier's group seat capacity increased by 1.3 percent overall, both long haul (-0.5 percent) and domestic (-3.6 percent) available seat kilometres fell.That reduced capacity helped to drive up group revenue per available seat (RASK) by 2.2 percent.But the introduction of two new A321 aircraft resulted in a 3.6 percent increase in short-haul international capacity, which saw its RASK drop 1.7 percent.However, that drop was offset by a 5.7 percent revenue gain in long-haul routes.Demand on Asian long-haul networks rose 1.3 percent, compared with a 2.2 percent decline in traffic from the Americas.The company's final Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner was returned from long-term storage in early July and expected to ease capacity constraints on long haul routes, with two new Dreamliners to be added to the fleet by the end of the year.