After years of being grounded with the rest of China’s travel sector, China’s top online travel agent, Trip. com, finally has taken off. Globe-trotting Chinese tourists will help it keep cruising at a high altitude. The company, formerly known as Ctrip. com, on Tuesday reported 7% year-over-year growth in net revenue last quarter. Operating losses narrowed to $34 million. Both were better than average analyst estimates compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. TRENDING STORIES See All Premium Pak's economy in 'shambles'; China is lending a hand Premium India, China vie for Russian ESPO blend crude imports: . . . Premium Realme brings C55 with iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island-l . . . Premium Dr Reddy's Lab recalls over 4,000 bottles of generic dr . . . Lockdowns and other pandemic-related restrictions in China hurt Trip. com’s domestic business last quarter but its global business footprint helped soften the blow. The company acquired British rival Skyscanner in 2016. Revenue last quarter from sales of transportation tickets, which accounted for more than 40% of Trip. com’s total sales in 2022, grew 45% from a year earlier thanks to the robust recovery in travel outside China. Air-ticket bookings on its international platform increased 80% year-over-year—with an assist from the reopening of other countries in Asia such as Japan. The company says hotel bookings on its international platform were already above prepandemic levels last quarter. The reopening of China, which ditched its strict “zero-Covid" policy in December, will be the main force driving the company’s recovery this year. Trip. com’s revenue in 2022 was still 44% below 2019 levels. But domestic travel in China is now bouncing back strongly: In January, the number of passengers taking domestic flights had already recovered to more than 80% of 2019 levels. Common business metrics for the hotel sector are also picking up smartly: Industrywide hotel revenue per available room for the week ending on Feb. 25 was actually 5% above pre-Covid levels, according to Morgan Stanley. Trip. com says its domestic hotel and air bookings have already surpassed prepandemic levels. What is still holding back a complete revenue recovery is outbound tourism from China. International flight capacity is still only around 15% to 20% of prepandemic levels, according to the company, though it said it has managed to outpace the broader industry: Its outbound travel bookings have rebounded to more than 40% of prepandemic levels. It will take time for air carriers to increase their capacity. And some prospective Chinese travelers, who were largely sealed off from the outside world for the past three years, may also be hesitant to immediately venture abroad again. Still it seems very likely that eventually Chinese tourists, who used to be the largest source of global tourism revenue, will start globe-trotting again. Trip. com has weathered some serious turbulence over the past three years. Some of the scars of “zero Covid" will still take a while to heal. But the view from the cockpit, for the first time in a long time, looks sunny and clear. MINT PREMIUM See All Premium The moment you invest, you want returns. It doesn’t wor . . . Premium Don’t fear an AI-induced jobs apocalypse just yet Premium Why Narayana Murthy’s wisdom on VCs is flawed Premium Three charts that explain the rally in momentum stocks Write to Jacky Wong at jacky. wong@wsj. com OPEN IN APP.