TOKYO, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Japan's two biggest airlines on Tuesday posted a significant jump and recovery in profits in the first half of fiscal 2023 through September amid the post-pandemic travel boom.
Japan's largest airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) said that its group net profit more than quadrupled from a year earlier to 93.21 billion yen (620 million U.S. dollars) in the April-September period, lifted by an increase in both domestic and international travelers.
Meanwhile, ANA's rival Japan Airlines (JAL) logged a consolidated net profit of 61.67 billion yen in the fiscal first half, a reversal from a net loss of 2.2 billion yen a year earlier and a record high for the first half since the company relisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2012.
Reflecting the demand pick-up, JAL lifted its net profit forecast for the year through March to 80 billion yen from an earlier estimate of 55 billion yen, while ANA left unchanged its full-year forecast, expecting a net profit of 80 billion yen. (1 U.S. dollar equals 151.10 Japanese yen) ■