ANA profit nosedives, Japan Airlines net profit slips

The operator of Japan's All Nippon Airways said Wednesday that its fiscal year net profit nosedived by more than half to $185 million, blaming high fuel costs for shrinking its bottom line. ANA Holdings earned 18.89 billion yen in the year to March, down about 56 percent from 43.14 billion yen a year ago, while revenue came in at 1.60 trillion yen, up from 1.48 trillion yen in the previous 12 months. Japan Airlines meanwhile said Wednesday its fiscal year net profit slipped 3.2 percent to $1.6 billion, and warned that earnings this year would also stumble. The carrier said it earned 166.25 billion yen in the year to March, down from 171.67 billion yen a year earlier, while revenue ticked up to 1.31 trillion yen from 1.24 trillion yen. A sharp drop in the yen, while giving a boost to Japanese exporters, has hurt the country's airlines by pushing up the cost of fuel, often a carrier's single biggest expense. The firm forecast that net profit in the year to March 2015 would come in lower at 115.0 billion yen. "The escalation of fuel costs due to the weak yen may prevail and competition may intensify in both international and domestic markets," it said.