Japan Airlines Co reported an annual net profit of 34.4 billion yen ($249.95 million) on Tuesday, swinging back to profit for the first time in three years as travel demand recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The results beat the company's own profit forecast of 25 billion yen. It posted a net loss of 177.5 billion yen the previous year.

For the current business year to March 2024, JAL expects a group net profit of 55 billion yen, against a mean profit of 75.3 billion yen forecast by nine analysts surveyed by Refinitiv. ($1 = 137.6300 yen) (Reporting by Mariko Katsumura Editing by Chang-Ran Kim)