ANA foresees 1st net loss in 6 years for FY 2008

TOKYO, Jan. 30 Kyodo - All Nippon Airways Co. said Friday it is anticipating a group net loss of 9
billion yen in fiscal 2008 to March 31, falling into the red for the first time
in six years.
ANA blamed the dismal projection on declining demand for flight services amid
the deepening economic slump, which has prompted Japan's second-largest carrier
to lower its revenue projection by 4.1 percent to 1.40 trillion yen from 1.46
trillion yen in its forecast announced in October last year.
As it is not expecting an immediate pickup in demand, ANA said it will work out
a set of measures, including pay cuts, by the end of March to achieve cost
reductions totaling more than 50 billion yen.
In the April-December period of 2008, ANA booked a net profit of 9.42 billion,
down sharply from 117.98 billion yen a year earlier, on a 2.9 percent drop in
revenue to 1.11 trillion yen.
With domestic and international flight passenger numbers in the first nine
months of the current business year declining 4.5 percent and 6.5 percent,
respectively, ANA saw its operating profit plummet to 40.33 billion yen from
93.99 billion yen a year earlier.
==Kyodo