ANA Holdings Inc plans to start flights on its new lower-cost carrier from the second half of the 2023 financial year, the Japanese airline said on Tuesday, as it and rivals bet on a return to tourism after the pandemic.

Airlines around the world have been hammered by the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak and are now grappling with uncertainty and higher fuel costs sparked by the crisis in Ukraine.

Still, there are signs the outlook for tourism is brightening. The Indonesian resort island of Bali this week welcomed its first foreign tourists under relaxed coronavirus rules that don't require quarantine, similar to programmes already in place in Thailand and the Philippines.

ANA said the carrier, Air Japan, would fly mid-range international flights. ANA already has a separate low-cost carrier, Peach Aviation, which flies domestic routes as well as Seoul, Hong Kong and a few other Asian destinations.

(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by David Dolan and Shri Navaratnam)