Japan Airlines noted that the business environment for the airline industry remains "extremely challenging" due to the wide-ranging impact of the coronavirus, but its cargo business continue to prop revenue to help manage losses.

In its announcement of third quarter financial results, the Japanese flag carrier said as passenger operations remain muted due to travel restrictions, it utilized its passenger planes to fly cargo in a bid to maximize its revenue stream. 

"Due to the global impact of COVID-19, the business environment has been extremely challenging for the airline industry," JAL said in a statement.

"In response to the sharp decrease in international and domestic travel demand, the carrier continued to reduce variable and fixed costs to counteract the significant decrease in revenue," it added, noting that operating revenue decreased to 356.5 billion yen, down 68.0% year-over-year, and an EBIT recorded a loss of 294.1 billion yen — resulting in a profit loss of 212.7 billion yen.

 "In order to maximize its revenue stream, the JAL Group continued to support domestic and global cargo logistics by utilizing passenger aircraft," the airline added.

This resulted to an increased cargo revenue of 31.5% year-on-year, recording 90.9 billion yen for the period.

Earlier, the Japanese airline said it will continue to ajust its operations for 2021 and will add more Airbus A350-900 aircraft into its domestic fleet lineup, while HAC will complete its fleet replacement, featuring the ATR42-600 aircraft, during the fiscal year 2021.

It said these state-of-the-art aircraft will significantly improve cabin comfort, fuel cost, noise levels, and continue to help reduce CO2 emissions for the JAL Group.