JAL to swing back into black in July, president says

Japan Airlines is on track to soon log a monthly profit for the first time since the global spread of the coronavirus, President Yuji Akasaka told Nikkei, as the country starts opening back up to international travel. "We will roughly break even in June and will definitely see positive earnings before interest and taxes in July," Akasaka said. The flag carrier last booked a monthly operating profit back in February 2020, when it was still using Japanese accounting standards. As of last November, JAL had aimed to return to the black this March, only to miss that target amid the rise of the omicron variant of the virus behind COVID-19. JAL's bullish outlook comes as travel demand recovers more quickly than was expected. The Japanese government doubled its cap on daily international arrivals to 20,000 this month. JAL had expected demand for international flights to reach around 25% of pre-COVID levels in the April-June quarter as of May. But "we're now at nearly 40% and expect to hit 50% by the end of September," Akasaka said. Much of the demand comes from international students and businesspeople, as well as travelers headed from Asia to North America via Japan. Flights connecting Japan with North America and with the rest of Asia are now around 80% full. Wholly owned JAL unit Zipair Tokyo is recovering faster than expected. The low-cost carrier is expected to book an operating profit for June, thanks to growing passenger numbers on North American routes, as well as sustained demand for cargo shipments. JAL's cost-cutting efforts through the fiscal year ended in March have helped buoy its performance as well. <br/>