TUI Travel confident on 2014 as seasonal loss narrows

LONDON (Reuters) - TUI Travel , the world's biggest tour operator, said it was confident on 2014 after seeing strong demand for holidays in its key January booking period and as its seasonal operating loss narrowed in its first quarter.

The British group, which owns the Thomson and First Choice holiday brands, reported an underlying operating loss of 108 million pounds for the three months to December 31, compared to a loss of 116 million in the year earlier period.

"Overall, trading remains in line with our expectations and we are confident of delivering 7 percent to 10 percent growth in underlying operating profit during the year," Chief executive Peter Long said in a statement on Thursday.

(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Neil Maidment)