Airline News
ANA and JAL double their Q1 profits
August 3rd 2015
ANA Holdings has reported a net profit of 8.3 billion yen ($67 million) for first-quarter 2015, more than doubled from 3.4 billion yen in the year-ago period. The group’s mainline carrier, All Nippon Airways (ANA), said it was maintaining demand levels in its domestic network, despite new challenges from Japan’s high-speed rail system. Read More » Traffic, revenue and load factor all improved in ANA’s domestic network for the three months ended June 30, an achievement given it was the first full quarter following the launch of a Shinkansen bullet train line from Tokyo to the Hokuriku region. Overall, ANA grew its domestic revenue 2.7% as traffic rose 0.7% despite a 2.5% capacity reduction, and domestic load factor increased 2% to 61.2%.
In contrast, ANA has continued to grow its international network. With the increases in capacity, the carrier has seen an improvement in demand in this segment as well. International traffic rose 8.5% in the first quarter on a 2.7% capacity increase. Load factor was up 3.9% to 73%, while revenue increased 9.2%. ANA launched a new Houston service during the quarter and plans to add Brussels and Sydney from October and December, respectively. ANA Cargo domestic and international revenues declined 5.4% and 1.6%, respectively.
Over at rival carrier Japan Airlines (JAL) Group, net profit in the quarter also more than doubled on the back of a jump in tourist arrivals, particularly from China and Southeast Asia, a weak yen and cheaper fuel. As such, JAL reported a net profit of 32.61 billion yen ($263 million) as international capacity rose 2.4% and passenger numbers up nearly 9% resulting in a 4.6% international load factor improvement to 77.9%. Domestically, JAL faces the same challenges as ANA. To this end, it had cut domestic capacity by 1% during the quarter, with traffic remaining essentially flat, resulting in a 63.1% load factor (up 0.7%). JAL Cargo fared better than ANA Cargo. International cargo volumes increased 9.4% year-on-year as revenues increased 5.1% to 14.7 billion yen. Domestic cargo volumes grew 9.7%, although revenues declined 0.5% “due to intensifying competition”.
JAL has left its full-year profit forecast unchanged since its last update in April. It expects a 144 billion yen net profit, although this would be down slightly from the 149 billion it posted in the previous fiscal year.
