Japan's JAL swings back to operating profit in Q1

TOKYO, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) (9205.T), the country's biggest carrier, swung back to a quarterly operating profit, with cost cutting efforts offsetting high fuel prices and an economic slowdown, which have bruised its rivals worldwide.

JAL kept its full-year operating profit forecast at 50 billion yen, above a market estimate of a 40.3 billion yen profit, according to 10 analysts polled by Reuters.

For the three months that ended on June 30, JAL posted an operating profit of 3.9 billion yen ($35.6 million), up from a loss of 8.55 billion yen a year earlier.

Skyrocketing oil prices were the airline industry's worst enemy during the quarter, with carriers worldwide shedding thousands of jobs and scrapping routes as losses mounted, threatening some of them with insolvency.

The world's airlines stand to lose more than $6 billion this year if fuel costs remain at about $135 a barrel, the International Air Transport Association estimated recently.