Japan Airlines profit soars but China spat weighs
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TOKYO (AFP) - Japan Airlines (JAL) raised its full-year profit forecast to 140 billion yen (S$2.12 billion) as the carrier, which exited bankruptcy only last year, released its first results since re-listing on Tokyo's stock market.
The airline, whose collapse was one of Japan's worst-ever corporate failures, said its net profit would rise in the year to March as it cut costs and enjoyed heavy demand for new international routes.
It warned, however, that a simmering trade spat between Tokyo and Beijing has weighed on revenue as it trimmed its full-year sales target to 1.21 trillion yen from 1.22 trillion yen.
JAL and rival All Nippon Airways (ANA) both cancelled thousands of flights in the wake of huge anti-Japan protests in China after Tokyo in mid-September nationalised a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea.
