All Nippon Airways, Japan's second-biggest airline, said its business will fall into the red for the first time in six years as the global recession has triggered a sharp fall in passenger demand.

ANA now expects a group net loss of JPY9 billion yen (USD$100.4 million) for the business year to March 31 instead of a previously projected profit of JPY17 billion. It had a JPY64.1 billion profit the previous year.

ANA, which competes with bigger rival Japan Airlines, cut its group operating profit forecast to JPY8 billion from JPY55 billion.

ANA's big earnings revision highlights a trend among major airlines around the world struggling for survival as the recession hits passengers' travel budgets.

ANA executive vice president of finance Tomohiro Hidema said the company's business conditions worsened towards the end of 2008 amid a severe drop in passengers on routes to Europe and North America, in addition to an already depressed China leisure market.

"Given the likelihood of the situation worsening in the foreseeable future, we are faced with an operating environment vastly different from the recent past, one that offers challenges of a much harsher nature," Hidema said in a statement.

Jet fuel prices, which hit a record high earlier this business year, and a steep rise in the yen also hurt its financial health, Hidema said.