ANA Group today posted a consolidated net profit of ´20.5 billion for the first six months of fiscal 2003 (April 1 - September 30), a considerable improvement over the ´8.1 billion loss posted for the same period last year.

Revenues for the period under review were ´608.3 billion, operating profit ´14.4 billion and recurring profit ´14.3 billion.

” This is proof that we are on track,” said ANA President and CEO, Yoji Ohashi, “and that despite one of the worst years in aviation history, and a very difficult operating environment at home, our restructuring efforts and our determination to reduce costs are paying off.”

In the first quarter of the current fiscal year, revenues from international passenger operations were greatly affected by SARS and the Iraq war. Demand for domestic individual travel also was weaker than expected, even given the ongoing economic malaise in Japan. Total revenue fell by ´13.7 billion year-on-year to ´608.3 billion. However, despite this drop in revenue, ANA was able to achieve a net profit by forging ahead with its Three Year Cost Reduction Plan (fiscal 2003 - fiscal 2005), particularly relating to personnel costs, as well as by restructuring the route network and rationalising the utilisation of its fleet.

The ANA Group is made up of five airlines*, aviation-related businesses, travel services and a chain of hotels, amongst other businesses. On a parent company basis, ANA (All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.) posted a net profit of ´7.4 billion, revenues of ´481.3 billion, an operating profit of ´8.9 billion, and a recurring profit of ´9.8 billion.
Airlines within the ANA Group carried 24.3 million passengers on international and domestic routes over 27.7 billion Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs). Passenger numbers for the six-month period were down 3.9% compared with last year, and RPKs down 6.4%, both of which can be accounted for by SARS and the Iraq war. Cargo carried was up by 9.3% to 305,000 tonnes, thanks to strong demand, especially in the China market, which continued unabated throughout the SARS crisis.

ANA will press ahead with its plan to reduce yearly costs by ´30 billion by the end of fiscal 2005 (March 31, 2006). In light of this, and the fast rebound of traffic after SARS, as well as the expectation of continued growth in traffic between Japan and China, ANA has revised upwards its initial net profit forecast for the present fiscal year, ending March 31, 2004, to ´17.5 billion yen from ´15 billion. This is despite a forecast drop in revenues from an initial ´1.24 trillion to ´1.21 trillion.

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