All Nippon Airways (ANA) saw net profit fall 30 per cent for the first nine months of the year through to 31 December 2018 on the eve of revealing it has taken a 9.5 per cent stake in Philippine Airlines (PAL).
The Japanese carrier’s parent company ANA Holdings said it came in at ¥106.8 billion ($97 million) for the nine-month period, down from a ¥152.9 billion profit in the same period a year earlier.
In better news for ANA, it reported that in the third quarter of the year it posted an operating profit of ¥51.4 billion, which was an improvement of ¥500 million year-on-year.
Consolidated operating revenue was up 5.2 per cent in the nine-month period to ¥1.6 trillion, but operating costs rose 6.6 per cent to ¥1.4 trillion.
Domestic passenger revenue rose 0.4 per cent, capacity was down by 0.9 per cent and load factor climbed 1.1 percentage points to 70.3 per cent. International revenue was up 11 per cent, capacity up three per cent and load factor improved by one point to 77.2 per cent.
ANA Holdings chief financial officer and chief financial officer, Ichiro Fukuzawa said: “As a result of steadily increasing and robust demand, operating income for the third quarter alone was 51.4 billion yen, an increase of 500 million yen compared to the third quarter of the previous year, despite continued declines in the first half of the fiscal year due to natural disasters and other factors.”
“This is a great turning point and also a good sign for further profitability,” he added.
ANA said higher fuel prices affected results and financial results also included its new low-cost subsidiary Peach, and the special loss booked during this period due to the settlement of a class action in the US.
On PAL, ANA said the purchase underscores its belief in the dynamism of the Asian region and the great potential of the Philippines’ flag carrier and its confidence that the Philippine air travel market will continue to serve as an economic leader for the ASEAN region.
ANA Holdings president and chief executive officer, Shinya Katanozaka said: “Asia is a key growth market and we believe Philippine Airlines is in an excellent operational position to capitalize on both the strong uptick in air traffic growth as well as the vibrant, expanding Philippine economy.
“We look forward to expanding our business relationship with Philippine Airlines so we can continue to serve our passengers even better.”
ANA operates 14 flights weekly on 2 routes to the Philippines and Philippine Airlines currently operates 84 flights weekly on nine routes to Japan. The two carriers have codeshare operations on Japan – Philippine routes and domestic routes within Japan and the Philippines, linking a total of 16 Japanese and 11 Philippine destinations.
