Japanese airline profits jump on tourism surge

TOKYO: Japan’s two-biggest airlines reported soaring profits yesterday as a surge in tourism and lower fuel costs beefed-up their bottom line. Japan Airlines (JAL) and rival All Nippon Airways (ANA) credited a weak yen for helping boost tourism into Japan as it makes a country often seen as too expensive much cheaper for visitors.

Plunging oil prices have also been good for carriers as it cuts down on what is often their single-biggest expense. The parent company of ANA said its nine-month net profit jumped 40 percent thanks to growth in its international, while it also announced it would buy three Airbus A380s for $1.25 billion. ANA Holdings’ net profit in the AprilDecember period rose to 73.3 billion yen ($606 billion), and the company revised up its fiscal year profit forecast by about a quarter. JAL said net profit for the same period soared 20 percent to 143.69 billion yen, thanks to an increase in the number of international visitors to Japan. “Passenger traffic increased as a result of capturing the robust demand from inbound travellers especially on North America, China and Southeast Asia routes,” JAL said in a statement.

ANA said its international demand “on certain routes from Japan” were dented temporarily after the jihadist attacks in Paris in November, but it added that the impact was limited.

“International passenger services surpassed levels from the same period of the previous year in both passenger numbers and revenues due to solid business travel demand...and the capture of robust travelling demand to Japan from all regions,” it said. JAL has suspended flights between Narita airport and Paris after demand took a hit following the November attacks in the French capital.

The carrier has said it will extend the suspension until March 15. The airline had operated one round trip a day between Paris and each of the two main Tokyo airports-Narita and Haneda. JAL has continued the normal operations of flights between Haneda and Paris. — AFP