ANA Cargo has sluggish first half

Efforts by All Nippon Airways’ (ANA) cargo division to capture higher cargo volumes by introducing a new loading reservation system  weren’t enough to boost the carrier’s airfreight numbers for the six-month period ending Sept. 30.

First-half annual cargo revenue for domestic routes at ANA slipped 3.7 percent, year-over-year, from US$133 million to $128.5 million in the April-to-September period. Cargo revenue on international routes in the first half of fiscal 2015 was down 2.4 percent, y-o-y, from $495 million in 2014 to $483 million.

The slump in performance did not come from lack of effort. In April of this year, ANA launched a new reservation system that made airfreight space utilization information available to cargo agents in real time. The carrier also said it made plans to reserve more aircraft belly space for cargo, in line with increased passenger movement over the summer. But domestic cargo volume also fell compared to the same period the previous year because of a decrease in cargo from international routes, and because of a weakened yen.

Internationally, ANA tired to capture some of the automotive market, moving parts from Asia to North America during the U.S. West Coast port crisis earlier in the year, and also attempted to secure more express cargo via its Okinawa cargo hub. It also established a Narita-Bangkok-Jakarta-Narita route in September and expanded its joint venture with Lufthansa Cargo to cover more routes between Europe and Japan. However, performance was driven down by weak demand between Japan and the European and North American markets, the carrier said.