Strong international travel demand propels ANA parent to record nine-month profit

ANA Holdings significantly improved its nine-month profits despite ongoing geopolitical uncertainty, as international travel demand continued to grow sharply. For the nine months to 31 December, the parent of ANA more than doubled its operating profit to Y210b ($1.4bi) – the group’s highest nine-month profit on record. Group revenue for the period rose 22.6% year on year to Y1.54t, with the sharpest increase seen in its airline business, which reported a 24% jump in revenue to Y1.4t. ANA Holdings attributes the rise to strong demand from inbound and leisure travellers, adding: “[Variable] costs [also] increased due to factors such as an expansion in the scale of the operations, however profit and loss improved greatly compared to the same period last year due to cost management initiatives.” ANA carried 5.3m international passengers during the nine-month period, an 88% increase year on year, with capacity up about 59%. The mainline carrier also saw a 25% jump in domestic passenger volume to over 31m, as a result of an uptick in leisure travel demand. Capacity was up 11%, outpaced by a 25% increase in traffic. Low-cost unit Peach Aviation carried 7m passengers during the period, a 25.5% year-on-year increase. ANA Holdings posted a net profit of nearly Y149b, more than double the year-ago period. <br/>