Japan’s ANA maintains forecast for record ¥510 bil loss

TOKYO – Japan’s biggest airline, ANA, today upheld its forecast for a record ¥510 billion (RM19.8 billion) net loss this financial year, but said the worst of the global virus slowdown has passed.

ANA Holdings’ nine-month net loss came to ¥309.6 billion – also a record, and a sharp drop from the ¥86.4 billion in profit it logged during the April-December period last year.

“The airline industry has faced an unprecedented, worldwide and severe contraction” caused by “dramatically decreased” passenger demand due to border restrictions and stay-home requests in Japan, said ANA in a statement.

“Under these economic conditions, operating revenues decreased to ¥527.6 billion,” a drop of 66.7% from the same period a year earlier, it said.

However, compared with earlier this financial year, the latest results give “a clear indication that our recovery is already under way”, said Ichiro Fukuzawa, ANA’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer.

“With the worst of the global slowdown behind us, our group is committed to providing safe, reliable and convenient travel options to meet passenger demand,” while continuing to adjust operations to maximise efficiency, he said.

ANA maintained its forecast of a record net loss of ¥510 billion for the fiscal year to March 2021, compared to ¥27.6 billion in net profit the previous year.

For the nine-month period, operating loss stood at ¥362.4 billion, compared to ¥119.7 billion in profit the previous year.

It recorded special losses of ¥76 billion “for business transformation expense, due to the large-scale retirement of aircraft aimed at improving the revenue balance”, said the airline.

Last October, ANA announced a major restructuring plan, having already announced that it will halt recruitment for 2021-22. About 3,000 workers reportedly retire every year.

Domestic rival Japan Airlines, also severely hit by the pandemic, is expected to log an operating loss of around ¥300 billion for the year to March 2021, according to the Nikkei business daily.

The company is scheduled to announce its financial results next week. – AFP, January 29, 2021