Hit by losses JAL to cut 6,800 jobs in three years, hints chief
16 Sep 2009
Loss-making Japan Airlines Corp. will cut about 6,800 jobs by March 2012, JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu said today as an airline trade body upped projected losses for the global industry this year.
Nishimatsu said JAL will have a deal in place with an international carrier by the middle of October.
JAL earlier planned to reduce its group workforce by some 5,000 employees, or around 10 per cent, through attrition and early retirement, but it expanded the number after consulting with its lenders, reported Japan's official Kyodo news agency.
There were earlier speculations that the troubled Japanese carrier will court a western airline to inject around ¥100 billion liquidity in to its operations.
Several US and European airlines including Texas-based AMR Corp., the parent of American Airlines, Air France-KLM, and Delta Air Lines Inc, the world's largest carrier, are seen as front runners for acquiring a chip of JAL's stake (See: AMR Corp joins fray for JAL stake, after Delta, Air France-KLM).
JAL, which plans to scale down its operations through such steps as streamlining its international and domestic routes, conveyed its improvement plan yesterday to a panel of Japan's land, infrastructure, transport and tourism ministry.
