ANA Holdings generated a net income of ¥86.5 billion (US$765 million) from April 1 to December 31, 2016, a year-on-year increase of 18.0%.

In the cargo segment, ANA said that it had worked hard to capture demand for traffic between Asia and the US by routing it through Japan and for traffic originating from Japan. The airline also revised its freighter network.

From April through to December 2016, ANA Cargo transported 715,000 tonnes of international freight, 17.1% more than the same period in 2015, and 347,000 tonnes of domestic freight, a year-on-year decrease of 3.5%.

Because of the strong yen and the abolition of commissions for sales agents, income from cargo departing from airports overseas decreased, with revenue dropping 23.6% year-on-year to ¥67.5 billion (US$597 million) for the last nine months of 2016.

During 2016, ANA launched widebody flights from Haneda to Chicago, New York and Kuala Lumpur, and from Narita to Phnom Penh and Wuhan.

Looking ahead, the airline said that it was expecting the Japanese economy to recover gradually but that its business environment would be subject to risks such as growing uncertainty in overseas economies and unpredictable fluctuations in foreign exchange and crude oil markets.