TOKYO: Japan Airlines (JAL) reported on Wednesday a nine-month operating loss of 183.3 billion yen ($1.60 billion), narrower than a year earlier, and maintained its full-year earnings guidance despite the emergence of the Omicron variant.

The figures released for the nine months to Dec. 31 implied a third-quarter operating loss of 31.5 billion yen according to a Reuters calculation, roughly in line with the average 29.8 billion yen third quarter operating loss forecast by four analysts polled by Refinitiv.

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For the 12 months to March 2022, Japan's second-biggest airline maintained its forecast for a 198 billion yen operating loss issued in early November before the Omicron variant of the coronavirus spread around the world.

That compares with the average 182 billion yen full-year operating loss predicted by nine analysts polled by Refinitiv.