"Overall (the report) looks pretty strong," Morningstar analyst Dan Su said, noting a rise in domestic and international bookings.

"You probably would expect some headwinds in the Western economies would be pressuring growth" but there was no sign of that in the Expedia report, she said.

Expedia (EXPE.O), whose brands include Hotwire and Hotels.com, has been investing heavily in technology platforms and international expansion to position itself for growth. But the Expedia brand has been challenged as passenger airfares have risen.

"All of our major brands other than Expedia continued to perform well," Expedia Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi said during a conference call. He added the Expedia brand showed improvement, but results were still not where the company wanted them to be.

In the first quarter, airline tickets sold rose 5 percent but revenue per ticket fell 20 percent, contributing to a decrease in worldwide air revenue of 17 percent. Worldwide hotel revenue rose 18 percent.

The company had a net loss of $3.3 million, or 2 cents a share, in the first quarter, compared with earnings of $52 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier.

Earnings per share adjusted for account depreciation, interest expense and other items rose to 26 cents from 16 cents a year earlier. That was better than the 15 cents a share expected by analysts, on average, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Quarterly revenue rose 12 percent to $816.5 million, better than the $790.9 million expected by analysts.

Shares of Expedia rose to $38.02 after closing at $32.63 on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Karen Jacobs; Editing by Phil Berlowitz, Steve Orlofsky and Richard Chang)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency