ANA faces macroeconomic and fleet challenges in next stage of recovery

All Nippon Airways (ANA) expects Japanese outbound traffic will continue to recover slowly through 2024, although the airline's plans for next year (2024) have been complicated by fleet availability issues.

Japan's outbound travel was an important traffic flow for many airlines before the COVID-19 pandemic, so it has been closely watched during the post-pandemic period. It has not rebounded as quickly as in other markets, and a full return to 2019 levels is not expected to occur until well into 2024.

The Japanese government was slower than others to remove travel restrictions, and there was also some early reluctance in Japan to travel abroad. However, both these constraints have eased, and the main influence on demand now is the higher cost of travel.

Some overseas markets, such as Hawaii, are performing more strongly, and this is a positive sign for the overall international outlook.

ANA faces the extra problem of grounded aircraft due to the Pratt & Whitney engine issues that are affecting many airlines around the world. This impacts domestic more than international services for ANA, although it is occurring just when the airline is looking to ramp up its overall capacity and improve its earnings.