All Nippon Airways (ANA) reported a net loss of US$616 million for its fiscal year ended 31 March, significantly widened from a $45 million deficit in the prior fiscal year. The carrier also warned that “conditions for the aviation industry remain severe” despite a “steady recovery from the global recession.”

“In the midst of the global recession brought on by the financial crisis in the US, aviation demand also dropped due to the effects of H1N1 influenza in the first half of the year. These factors brought on an extremely harsh business environment at a level of severity we’ve never seen before,” said ANA executive VP Tomohiro Hidema. Forecasting a return to profitability in FY2010-11 with a net income of $54 million on a 10.8 per cent increase in revenue to $14.62 billion. “Our current outlook of the environment surrounding our business is cautiously optimistic,” he said.

Full-year 2009-10 revenue fell 11.8 per cent to $13.2 billion while expenses dropped 7.4 per cent to $13.79 billion, producing an operating loss of $583 million, reversed from an operating profit of $81 million in FY2008-09. The domestic Japanese market generated $6.78 billion in revenue, down 9.8 per cent, as domestic traffic decreased 5.8 per cent while international revenue dropped 26.4 per cent to $2.3 billion despite a 4.4 per cent rise in traffic on a decrease in international capacity of 4.2 per cent.