Japan Airlines: strong inbound tourist demand helps offset weaker outbound traffic

While there has been a lot of focus on the slow recovery of Japan's outbound travel, another significant post-pandemic trend has been the surge in overseas visitors to that country.

For Japan Airlines (JAL), the strong demand for inbound travel to Japan is more than offsetting sluggish outbound travel. Of course, both trends are supported by the weakness of the Japanese yen.

Boosting tourist numbers has been one of the Japanese government's long term goals, and it was a major factor in Japanese airlines' pre-pandemic growth plans. The swift return of tourist traffic shows that it can continue to be a key part of government and airlines' post-pandemic strategies.

However, the massive Tokyo outbound market still remains the most important for JAL and the other home-based airlines, and its recovery will be essential to fully rebuild international capacity.