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Japan Airlines sees revenues and profits slide

Japan Airlines saw revenue and profits slide last year despite a gradual recovery in the Japanese economy.

International passenger revenue fell by 7.5% to 415.2 billion yen in the year to March 31, while domestic revenue was almost stable at almost 500 billion yen.

Overall operating revenue slid by 3.6% and the operating profit dropped by 18.6% to 170.3 billion yen.

Capacity was raised on routes to Honolulu and Bangkok during specific periods to cater for “robust” demand and the airline started codesharing with Iberia on flights to Madrid and expanded codeshares with China Airlines to Taiwan and S7 to destinations in Russia.

JAL said: “During the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, the Japanese economy maintained its moderate recovery, with employment and income environments showing improvement.

“However, growth of personal spending and capital investment lacked strength.

“In overseas economies, weakness was observed in new emerging markets and resource-rich countries in Asia, such as China’s economic slowdown.

“Fuel purchasing costs and crude oil prices, which affect our international passenger and international cargo revenues, were low compared to the previous year, but increased from December 2016 as OPEC agreed to reduce oil production.

“As for exchange rates, the Japanese yen grew stronger than the US dollar from the previous year, but weakened from December 2016 due to expectations that the US Federal Open Market Committee would raise interest rates.

“Under these economic conditions, we worked to increase profit consciousness of all our employees.”

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