The operator of Kansai International Airport said Wednesday it posted its first-ever full-year profit in fiscal 2004, thanks to an increase in international flights and a reduction in interest payments on debts.
In the year that ended March 31, Kansai International Airport Co. posted a group net profit of 4.43 billion yen, compared with a net loss of 6.04 billion yen the previous year.
Revenue rose 8 percent to 104 billion yen while operating profit jumped 44.6 percent to 21.3 billion yen. The airport opened in September 1994.
The firm has been laden with some 1.4 trillion yen in debts and shoulders a huge interest burden. But this weight was reduced thanks to the low level of current interest rates, the company said.
However, the airport operator would not have been able to turn a profit without government aid. The government has been propping up the airport with 9 billion yen a year in subsidies since fiscal 2003.