This Oct. 27, 2020 file photo shows JAL planes parked at Haneda Airport. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan Airlines Co. on Tuesday forecast a net loss of 146 billion yen ($1.3 billion) for the business year through March amid a later-than-expected recovery in air travel demand from the COVID-19 fallout.

       The evaporation of air travel demand amid the coronavirus pandemic had already led JAL to post a net loss of 286.69 billion yen for the year ended March 2021, the first red ink since its 2012 relisting following a state-backed rehabilitation.

       Despite the sluggish recovery in demand, the cargo business remained a bright spot and JAL expects the favorable business conditions to continue. Fiscal 2021 sales were forecast to rise 59.2 percent to 766 billion yen.

       In the six months to September, the Japanese airline logged a net loss of 104.98 billion yen, smaller than its 161.23 billion loss a year earlier. Sales grew 49.2 percent to 290.65 billion yen, JAL said.

       Based on current forecasts, Japan's two major airlines -- JAL and ANA Holdings Inc. -- will remain mired in the red for a second straight year, underscoring the gravity of the COVID-19 hit to the airline sector.

       "There are signs of a gradual recovery in demand, but it will take a while until we see a full recovery," JAL said.

       A COVID-19 state of emergency was in place in many Japanese prefectures for most of the April-September period, limiting the recovery in demand for domestic flights.

       Demand for international flights remains depressed due to cross-border travel restrictions. The Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics in the summer apparently had a limited impact because foreign spectators were barred.

       In the first half of fiscal 2021, JAL handled around 6.2 million passengers on domestic flights, up from 4.6 million a year earlier.

       The number on international flights stood at 353,640, roughly a 3.2-fold year-on-year increase.

       Last week, ANA Holdings, the parent of All Nippon Airways Co., revised downward its fiscal 2021 earnings outlook to a net loss of 100 billion yen from its earlier projected 3.5 billion yen profit.

       Within five years, it will reduce the workforce in its mainstay airline segment by around 9,000, or about 20 percent from fiscal 2020, to emerge from what President and CEO Shinya Katanozaka described as the "pandemic tunnel."

       In a positive development for the transport and tourism sectors, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, fresh out of a decisive win in Sunday's lower house election, is planning to relaunch a subsidy program to spur local tourism in Japan following recent drops in coronavirus cases across the country.

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