Profits for Japanese airlines are now soaring but there were warnings of headwinds (Toshifumi KITAMURA)

Tokyo (AFP) – Japanese airlines ANA and JAL said Friday that soaring demand for international travel had boosted their bottom line as the country enjoys a tourism boom ahead of the 2020 Olympics.

ANA booked a record operating profit of 165 billion yen ($1.5 billion), up 0.3 percent on the previous year as sales grew more than four percent to 2.05 trillion yen.

“The airline industry in Japan has generally seen strong demand along with a large increase in foreign visitors to Japan,” the firm said.

However, net profits fell 23 percent on a year-on-year basis because last year’s figures included a one-off gain from integrating a low-cost carrier as a subsidiary.

Looking ahead, ANA forecast net profit would slip 2.5 percent to 108 billion yen and that operating profits would stagnate.

Rival JAL saw net profit rise 11.4 percent to 150.8 billion yen as “demand for international flights expanded”.

But JAL also predicted headwinds, with net profits seen dropping around 25 percent as costs rise due to the ballooning price of fuel and an expanded fleet.

Disclaimer: Validity of the above story is for 7 Days from original date of publishing. Source: AFP.