=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2003/11/14/f= inancial0837EST0026.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, November 14, 2003 (AP) Japan Airlines System posts first half loss on international travel slump YURI KAGEYAMA, AP Business Writer (11-14) 05:37 PST TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's top carrier, Japan Airlines System Corp., reported a loss of 57.6 billion yen ($533 million) for the fiscal first half as the Iraq war and the outbreak of SARS in the earlier part of the year depressed international travel. The airline company said Friday it also expects a bigger loss for the ye= ar than previously projected. The holding company was formed last October to oversee the integration of carriers Japan Airlines and Japan Air System. The comparable number for the six months to Sept. 30 last year was a combined profit of 37.1 billion yen, the Tokyo-based company said. Fiscal-half revenue totaled 944.5 billion yen ($8.7 billion), down about 13 percent from the estimated 1.07 trillion yen a year ago. Domestic traffic got a lift from the integration of airline routes, endi= ng duplication and offering competitive flight schedules. The number of passengers flying on domestic flights edged up 2.7 percent to 24.3 million passengers from 23.7 million a year earlier. But international revenue fell by a sharp 29 percent to 251 billion yen ($2.3 billion) as the number of passengers on international flights plunged 34 percent to 4.95 million people from 7.5 million last year. The war in Iraq combined with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome slashed travel in the first part of this year. But flight capacity and frequencies were adjusted by using smaller aircraft and suspending services, cutting 38 billion yen ($352 million) in costs, the company said. International cargo traffic slid due to a reduction in freight capacity caused by the suspension of passenger flights. The airline said it now forecasts an even bigger loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2004, of 65 billion yen ($601 million), worse than the 43 billion yen loss it expected in May. The airline company would have earnmed 11.6 billion yen ($107 million) the previous fiscal year. Although business travel has recovered recently, travel for leisure remains sluggish, and a recovery is coming slower than expected, it said. But it expects a recovery by next spring, and said domestic passenger demand remains stable. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 AP