ANA Parent Swings to First Operating Profit in Three Years

DALLAS — All Nippon Airways (NH) parent company ANA Holdings announced that it had earned its first operating profit in over three years. The announcement comes as the carrier has benefited from the increase in travel demand as Japan opened its borders and ended travel restrictions in 2022. 

In 2022, Japan's largest airline reported a profit of US$897m from March 2022 through March 2023. This was a substantial increase from the US$486m estimated in October 2022. Furthermore, ANA expects its operating profit for 2023 to be over US$1bn. In September 2022, Japan began to ease restrictions for travelers, and travel demand from Oceania, North America, and Asia has returned to pre-pandemic levels.  

Kimihiro Nakahori, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at ANA Holdings, commented, "The ANA Group is pleased to announce our strong financial performance that marks the first profitable full year of operations since the pandemic began three years ago... These results are a testimony to the dedication of our employees, the loyalty of our customers and support from our stakeholders that point towards a promising future."

The carrier also announced schedule changes for the new year for flights to mainland China. This includes increasing service between Tokyo Narita and Shanghai Pudong to daily flights.

ANA will resume flights between Kansai and Shanghai Pudong starting June 5 for the first time since the route was suspended due to the pandemic in March 2020 and will operate three times weekly. Flights between Tokyo Narita and Guangzhou will be increased to daily flights starting on May 1, and will also begin daily service between Tokyo Haneda and Shenzhen on May 20. 

Due to the increased demand for travel, the airline also increased the number of flights between North America and Japan from Tokyo Narita Airport. Furthermore, the carrier increased flights from Tokyo's other airport, Haneda, to Sydney, Australia, and Delhi, India.

Featured image: ANA - All Nippon Airways JA897A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. Photo: Max Langley/Airways