By TAKEHIRO TOMODA/ Staff Writer
October 22, 2020 at 16:33 JST
All Nippon Airways Co. aircraft at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in August (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
ANA Holdings Inc. expects to post a record net loss of around 500 billion yen ($4.78 billion) for fiscal 2020 as the airline group continues struggling amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic, sources said.
The group holding company will disclose its business performance forecast for the year through March when it announces its midterm results on Oct. 27.
ANA Holdings is already planning cost-saving measures, including sales of about 10 percent of its aircraft fleet, but it cannot predict the end to the novel coronavirus crisis that has hammered flight services, especially for international routes, the sources said Oct. 21.
The expected net loss would dwarf the company’s current record loss of 57.3 billion yen for fiscal 2009, following the 2008 collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers.
ANA Holdings reported a net profit of 27.6 billion yen for fiscal 2019, but then the virus seriously hit revenue.
The number of passengers for the ANA group between April and August this year plummeted by 96.3 percent year on year for international flights.
Although Japan and other countries have eased their border restrictions, it is unknown when normal traffic, including tourists, will resume.
The number of passengers for domestic flights started recovering in June, but demand remains very weak compared with normal years.
ANA Holdings’ announcement on Oct. 27 will also include structural reforms, such as measures to reduce fixed costs. The company will also slash base salaries and withhold winter bonuses.
It has proposed an average 30 percent reduction in annual salaries to its labor union and is seeking voluntary retirement among the workforce.
ANA Holdings owned 300 aircraft as of the end of June and has had to pay for maintenance, leasing and depreciation costs even on planes grounded in the pandemic. The company is considering selling about 30 of its airplanes, mainly large ones, the sources said.
The effects of the structural reforms will likely be reflected in the business performance forecast for fiscal 2020.
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