By Jakub Olesiuk and Matteo Allievi
MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish travel booking group Amadeus said on Wednesday it expects its revenue to jump in the second quarter compared to the first three months of the year as demand remains strong despite higher costs for airline tickets
"If we take together the first quarter with the estimates for April, we see a growth close to 4% (from a year ago)," Amadeus CEO Luis Maroto said in a call with analysts.
Total bookings grew 2.8% to 125.2 million in the first quarter, benefiting from the Easter holiday at the end of March, though they were still below 2019's pre-pandemic level of 162.6 million.
The rise in bookings was led by a 31% jump in the Asia Pacific region.
"Amadeus' figures are on a positive recovery path that will take it back to pre-pandemic levels this year," brokerage Bankinter wrote in a note.
Amadeus shares were up around 3% at 1214 GMT.
Amadeus's first-quarter adjusted net profit rose 20% to 325 million euros ($349.05 million), beating LSEG-polled analysts' forecast of 310.9 million euros as travellers booked more air travel.
"We are seeing a very strong resilience on the demand side and still no worrying signs of weakness," Sabadell analyst Alvaro del Pozo said.
"Travel demand will hold up as long as the employment data globally continues to be strong," he added.
Growth in Western Europe bookings was flat, dampened by strikes at major airlines which led to cancellations, Maroto said.
In its latest report, industry group IATA said it expects strong demand to continue this summer after March data, the latest available, showed traffic was still soaring thanks to the Asia-Pacific market.
Amadeus reiterated that its revenue would grow by between 11% and 14.5% in 2024. Revenue rose 14.1% in the first quarter.
($1 = 0.9311 euros)
(Reporting by Jakub Olesiuk and Matteo Allievi; Editing by Inti Landauro and Paul Simao)
