Japan Airlines net profit falls nearly 65% as COVID-19 hits travel

Japan Airlines' annual net profit plunged nearly 65%, the company said Thursday, as it faced the "unprecedented" impact of the coronavirus pandemic on aviation demand. JAL said net profit for the fiscal year ending in March fell 64.6% to Y53.4b on annual sales of Y1.4t, down 5.1%. The results were largely in line with a profit warning the airline issued last week. JAL said demand had plunged owing to entry bans around the world, the cancellation of major domestic events, and a state of emergency in Japan with authorities urging citizens not to travel. The airline did not release earnings forecasts for the current financial year, citing uncertainty over the pandemic. For now, JAL plans to cut its number of flights by 90% on international routes and more than 60% on domestic routes from its flight schedule announced before the pandemic. But the firm said it remained optimistic about the outlook. "The decline in flight demand due to the impact of the new coronavirus is a temporary phenomenon and our mid- and long-term forecast that demand for flights from and to Japan will grow greatly has remained unchanged," it said.<br/>