All Nippon Airways on Tuesday reported a record high in cargo revenue of $863 million for the fiscal year third quarter ended Dec. 30 on higher demand from shippers seeking to avoid crowded ocean shipping lanes.
Popular items ANA carried were automotive parts, semiconductors, electronics and COVID vaccines. Much of the activity was on trans-Pacific and intra-Asia lanes.
For the first nine months, cargo revenues increased 160% versus 2019 to $2.2 billion.
Strong cargo performance helped the carrier eke out an overall quarterly operating profit — $869,000 — for the first time in two years.
ANA is a large passenger airline with a cargo division that operates nine Boeing 767-300 medium-size freighters and two large 777 freighters, according to a March 2021 fact sheet.
The Tokyo-based carrier introduced the 777 cargo jets on the Tokyo-Hong Kong and Tokyo-Taipei routes in October and on the Tokyo-Qingdao, China, route in November. It also deployed several mini-freighters, passenger aircraft used exclusively to support cargo customers, during the quarter.
Cargo tonnage for the nine-month period fell 3% to 932,000 tons compared to the pre-pandemic level due to a large drop in domestic cargo business. International movements actually increased 10.5%, which was also reflected by 17.7% growth in cargo-ton-kilometers (4.2 million).
Passenger volume was severely depleted by COVID challenges during the first half of the fiscal year, but passenger demand for domestic flights significantly improved in October after Japan lifted a state of emergency. International passenger revenue and seats filled were about 10% of 2019 levels for the nine-month period.
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