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ANA seeking government guarantee for loans Japanese media reveals
April 9th 2020
Japan's All Nippon Airways [ANA] is seeking a government guarantee for loans and other lines of credit, local media reports. Read More »
The Nikkei Asian Review said on April 7 ANA was looking to raise up to JPY1.3 trillion (US$12 billion) to shore up its liquidity as the airline group tried to ride out the impact of COVID-19.
The report said the government guarantee would be for part of the JPY1.3 trillion the airline group was seeking from public and private lenders.
ANA HOLDINGS third quarter financial results showed the group had JPY212 billion in cash and cash equivalents at December 31, 2019.
Rival Japan Airlines [JAL] had JPY326 billion in cash and cash equivalents at that date.
Both airlines are due to report their full year results for the 12 months to March 31, 2020 later in April.
Japanese carriers, like their peers worldwide, have been rocked by the drop in travel demand as the coronavirus pandemic keeps travellers at home and governments have introduced travel restrictions that limit the movement of people across international borders.
In another negative for Japanese carriers, the coronavirus outbreak has led to the 12-month postponement of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics that had been scheduled for July 23 to August 8 this year.
Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, this week declared a state of emergency for the country to reduce the spread of the disease. It will be in place for Tokyo, as well as the prefectures of Chiba, Fukuoka, Hyogo, Kanagawa, Osaka and Saitama.
While Japan said it would not implement a strict lockdown as have some European countries, the nation was confident its citizens would adhere to measures to contain the pandemic, including staying at home and accepting closure of most non-essential businesses.
ANA’s monthly traffic figures, published this week, showed the number of international passengers tumbled 25.2%, to 569,460, in February, compared with the prior corresponding period.
International revenue passenger kilometres (RPK), a measure of demand, slumped 9.2% and load factor slipped 10.9 percentage points to 64.4%.
The airline’s passenger decline was not as severe in the domestic market. Domestic passengers carried were 4.6% lower, at 3.12 million, in February, compared with the same month in 2019. RPKs were down 4.3%, with load factor easing 3.2 percentage points, to 64%.
One bright spot was cargo with the airline carrying 10.2% more international freight in the month.
