TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese airline ANA Holdings on Monday posted a 1.3 billion yen ($9.8 million) operating loss for the first quarter, narrower than a year earlier helped by a recovery in travel demand.
That beat the 14.8 billion yen operating loss forecast by four analysts, Refinitiv Eikon data showed, and narrowed from a loss of 64.6 billion yen a year earlier.
Revenue rose 76.2% to 350.4 billion yen and the company stuck to its forecast of a 50 billion yen operating profit for the year to March 31, 2023.
Koji Shibata, president of ANA Holdings, said last month that the company was on track to meet its full-year profit target, with domestic passenger volumes for ANA and its low-cost carrier Peach Aviation now at about 90% of pre-pandemic levels.
Domestic flight demand, however, is at risk of weakening as COVID-19 cases surge due to the BA.5 variant, which pushed nationwide cases to a record 233,094 last week.
Japan began a gradual reopening to tourists in June after essentially being shut to non-residents for more than two years as part of pandemic-related measures.
Still, the government is limiting the number of entries to 20,000 people per day including returning residents – a fraction of pre-pandemic levels – and tourists can only visit on guided package tours.
($1 = 132.5700 yen)
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; editing by Tom Hogue and Jason Neely)
