Tokyo, July 29 (Jiji Press)–ANA Holdings Inc. <9202> said Wednesday that it suffered a record quarterly net loss in April-June, due to cancellations of many domestic and international flights amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first quarter of fiscal 2020, the parent of major Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways reported a consolidated net loss of 108,819 million yen, against a profit of 11,418 million yen for the same period a year ago.
The latest April-June loss was the largest since the company started to disclose quarterly results in fiscal 2003.
In the quarter, ANA Holdings’ sales plunged 75.7 pct from a year earlier to 121,608 million yen. It incurred an operating loss of 159,065 million yen, against the year-before profit of 16,173 million yen. Both the latest figures were worst on record on a quarterly basis.
The ANA group saw the number of passengers on its domestic flights dive 88 pct in April-June and that of international passengers plummet 96 pct.
The company carried out cost cuts of 162.5 billion yen through measures including putting about 43,000 group employees on temporary leave. But the measures were not enough to avoid a large red figue for April-June.
Due to uncertain business conditions with no end in sight to the pandemic, the company did not release full-year earnings projections.
The airline group initially expected the pandemic to begin to recede around August. In fact, however, coronavirus infections are increasing again now.
The company is now anticipating a recovery in demand for domestic flights around the end of fiscal 2021 and for international flights around the end of fiscal 2023.
The company aims to reduce costs by a total of 255 billion yen in the current business year, planning to sustain employees’ temporary leave and decommission aging planes with higher maintenance costs.
It will also proceed with scrapping unprofitable flight routes and reviewing employee benefits, but it plans to maintain jobs.
To survive the coronavirus crisis, ANA Holdings has secured funds of over 1 trillion yen. “We can stay afloat for the time being,” Executive Vice President Ichiro Fukuzawa said.
