Japan’s ANA, JAL boost full-year profit guidance on strong performance

Japan’s two major airlines have boosted their profit guidance for the fiscal year through March 31, in part because of strong performance on their international networks.

ANA Holdings (ANA) is projecting a ¥132 billion ($1.2 billion) net profit for the full fiscal year. This is up by ¥7 billion from its earlier estimate, and ¥33 billion higher than its profit for the previous year.

The Japan Airlines (JAL) Group, meanwhile, forecast a ¥121 billion net profit for the full year, an increase of ¥13 billion from previous predictions.

ANA reported a net profit of ¥118.3 billion for the six months through Sept. 30, its fiscal first half. This was more than double the profit from the same period a year earlier, although this was partly because of the inclusion of results from LCC subsidiary Peach Aviation for the first time.

Overall revenue was up 11.3% for ANA, with operating profit increasing by 28.5%. In the international operation, passenger revenues were up 14% on an 8.1% gain in capacity and an 8.3% increase in traffic. The airline said outbound business traffic was strong, and outbound leisure demand to Europe recovered from a slump that followed terrorist attacks in that market. Inbound traffic was again robust.

The carrier’s domestic revenue rose 2.2%, as traffic grew 4.9% on a 0.6% decline in capacity. Domestic and international cargo revenue rose 0.5% and 31.1%, respectively.

ANA’s other LCC subsidiary, Vanilla Air, and Peach contributed to growth in other revenue categories. Vanilla achieved a 26.7% traffic increase on 26.2% capacity growth. Both LCCs recorded load factors of 87%-88%.

JAL reported a net profit of ¥77.9 billion for the fiscal first half, an increase of ¥6.5 billion or 9.2% from a year earlier. Revenue rose by 6.2% year-on-year and operating profit by 7.2%.

International passenger revenue increased 7.6% during the half, although the capacity increase was just 0.5% as the carrier continued its conservative approach to growth. Both inbound and outbound demand was strong, the airline said.

JAL’s domestic revenue was up 4.6%, with capacity rising 0.5%. International cargo revenue increased 26.1%, although domestic cargo revenue slipped 0.6%.

(Adrian Schofield - Aviation Daily / ATWOnline News)