News
ANA, JAL report first quarter profit drops
August 12th 2016
Japan’s two major international carriers – All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) – have posted significant first-quarter net profit drops amid the recent terrorist attacks in Europe, China’s economic slowdown and the Kumamoto earthquake in April. Read More »
ANA parent, ANA Holdings, announced a 20.7% year-on-year drop in group net profit to 6.65 billion yen ($65.72 million) for the April-June quarter, as operating profit declined 15.6% and sales slipped 2.3%. The Star Alliance carrier said domestic revenue and passenger numbers were down following the April earthquake, while its routes to Europe showed weaker demand amid the recent spate in terrorist attacks there. “We saw strong demand for flights linking Asia and North America,” ANA executive vice-president, Yuji Hirako, told a news conference.
ANA Holdings maintains its full-year earnings outlook through to March 31, forecasting an 80 billion yen group net profit, up 2.3% year-on-year.
Over at rival JAL, the first quarter left much to be desired, too. JAL saw its net profit decline 55% to 14.7 billion yen ($143.6 million) in the three months ended June 30, as revenues decreased 4.8% to 297.2 billion yen and operating profit was down 39% to 22 billion yen.
Echoing concerns at ANA, JAL said the “sense of uncertainty” in the British and European economies following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union had a negative impact on its passenger boardings. JAL also said it sees weakness in emerging markets in Asia, in addition to China’s economic slowdown.
Nevertheless, JAL left its full-year profit forecast unchanged, projecting a net profit of 192 billion yen on sales of 1.34 trillion yen through to March 31.
