Dreamliner grounding hits ANA revenue

All Nippon Airways, the largest operator of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, said the grounding of the aircraft because of battery problems shaved Y1.4bn ($15m) off its revenues in January, but the Japanese carrier is not yet seeking compensation.

ANA has been forced to cancel 459 flights in January and a total of 830 flights through February 18. The carrier would consider seeking compensation if it appears warranted once the cause of the problems is clear, Kiyoshi Tonomoto, ANA’s executive vice-president, said on Thursday.

Airlines worldwide operating the 50 Dreamliners delivered so far have been forced to cancel flights or use alternative aircraft after the US Federal Aviation Authority and other regulators ordered the planes to stop flying in the wake of issues with batteries, including a fire on a Japan Airlines 787 in Boston.

Nevertheless, ANA, which was the launch customer for the Dreamliner and operates 17 of Boeing’s most advanced aircraft, kept its full-year profit forecast unchanged and said it considered the impact of the grounding so far to be very small.

On Wednesday, Boeing reported better than expected earnings for the last quarter of 2012 and said it did not expect any significant financial impact from the Dreamliner’s grounding.

The decline in ANA’s revenue reflects the impact of the grounding that has lasted for about two weeks, since January 16, when an ANA flight made an emergency landing in western Japan because of a warning signal about the battery and a burning smell.

The carrier has generally been able to transfer domestic passengers to other ANA flights and use alternative aircraft.

For the three months through December, before the Dreamliner problems, ANA posted a 4 per cent increase in revenue to Y378.9bn and a 39 per cent surge in net profit to Y15.3bn.

A solid third quarter contributed to record operating profit of Y107.5bn for the nine months from April to December.

International passenger revenue in the nine months rose nearly 10 per cent despite a sharp drop in passenger traffic between China and Japan because of a bilateral dispute over the sovereignty of islands in the East China Sea, which both countries claim.

The airline’s performance last year compares with a difficult period in 2011 because of the impact of the Japan earthquake and Fukushima nuclear accident.