JAL sees Q2 earnings improvement as rising costs loom

Japan Airlines reported an increase in its second-quarter earnings, amid an uplift in revenue across its business units and despite a rise in operating costs. For the quarter ended 30 September, the airline group disclosed a positive EBIT of Y63.5b ($416.6m), up about 6% year on year. However, the increase was not enough to offset an overall dip in EBIT: JAL reported a 6.1% drop in EBIT for the six months to 30 September, at Y91.2b. Group revenue rose 8.7% during the quarter to Y478b, with its international passenger and low-cost carrier business showing the highest revenue increases. JAL notes that international yields have yet to fully normalise, which has helped boost its quarterly revenues by 4.6%. During the July-September quarter, the network operator carried 1.87m passengers, up 8.6% year on year. On the domestic front, JAL reported a smaller increase in passenger revenue during the quarter, at 1.7%, against a 3.7% rise in passenger volumes to 9.3m. JAL’s two low-cost units – Zipair and Spring Japan – each reported 33% increases in quarterly revenue, as they each “successfully captured” strong inbound traffic from North America and Asia, as well as Mainland China, respectively. <br/>