Despite the impact of the SARS epidemic across Asia and the Iraq war, All Nippon Airways Co. said Friday it swung back into the black in the first half of fiscal 2003, posting a group net profit of 20.57 billion yen.

The net profit compares with a net loss of 8.11 billion yen a year earlier, when the carrier booked extraordinary losses stemming from sales of overseas assets.

The company attributed the positive figure to cost-cutting efforts, which totaled 12.1 billion yen during the first half alone.