JAL reportedly to cut 50 loss-making routes
Posted: 23 September 2009 1741 hrs
TOKYO -
Troubled Japan Airlines is considering cutting 18 percent of its existing routes in an effort to reduce losses as a result of the global economic slump, a report said Wednesday. Asia's largest carrier is set to abolish 50 loss-making routes including to 21 international destinations, the business daily Nikkei reported.
As part of the cuts, JAL will discontinue 60 percent of international flights from Osaka's Kansai airport, the report said.
In addition to the already-announced elimination of flights between Kansai and London, JAL plans to end its service from Osaka to South Korea's Incheon, Singapore and Hanoi at the end of the business year to March 2010, the report said.
It will also discontinue flights linking Kansai with destinations in Europe and the United States, focusing instead on flights to Beijing and Shanghai, which are expected to see growing demand from business travellers, Nikkei said.
On the domestic front, JAL plans to slash 29 routes and withdraw from seven domestic airports, including those in Shizuoka, Kobe and Matsumoto, Nikkei said.
JAL, which lost more than one billion US dollars in the April-June quarter, has secured loans from state-backed lenders, including the Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), while aiming to seal a tie-up with an overseas airline by mid-October.
According to local media, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines' parent company, as well as Korean Air, are considering taking a stake. European carrier Air France-KLM is also seen as a possible partner.
The troubled airline requested additional funds from the lenders earlier this month as it unveiled the outline of an emergency revival plan under which it would cut 6,800 jobs as well as slash flights.
- AFP/ir
