Asian airlines don't expect to be making money any time soon, even with a nascent recovery. Singapore Air said on May 21 it will post a fiscal first-quarter loss, while Japan Airlines forecast a Japanese Yen 43 billion (US$360 million loss) for the year ending March of next year.
JTB Corp, Japan's largest travel agency, said yesterday April bookings for overseas travel slumped 50 percent. The company is counting on family trips to Hawaii, Guam and Saipan in the Pacific to help boost demand in the summer months.
Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd spokeswoman Lisa Wong said its pickup in bookings "is so minor that it can't even cover our costs yet." The Hong Kong carrier has cut 47 percent of its scheduled flights and only filled one-third of its available seats with paying passengers in April.
"With the reduced capacity, even if they fill more of the seats now, it's still going to be a decline in profits this year for airlines," said Winson Fong, who helps manage US$2 billion in Asia outside Japan at SGY Asset Management Ltd, including shares in Singapore Air.
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