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Tokyo - Struggling Japan Airlines is to cut 45 more international and domestic routes this financial year as it accelerates its plan to return to profitability, it said on Wednesday.
The airline, being restructured with the help of a state-backed turnaround fund after filing for bankruptcy in January, will slash international and domestic capacity by 40% and 30% respectively, compared to fiscal 2008.
JAL said the plan, to be carried out between April 2010 and March 2011, will see 15 additional international routes cut, including those from Tokyo to Amsterdam, Milan, Rome and Sao Paolo. It will also drop 30 domestic routes.
"JAL has restructured its overall network with the clear objective of returning to profitability as swiftly as possible," the airline said in a statement.
But airline chairperson Kazuo Inamori denied any immediate plan to further cut its international business, saying: "I believe our international routes are very important for our revival."
Combined with its previously announced route-cutting plans, the airline will cease to run 28 international routes and close 11 international bases, while 50 domestic routes will be terminated, along with eight offices.
"Maintaining routes is part of social infrastructure, but without this it will be extremely difficult for us to achieve our revival," JAL president Masaru Onishi told a news conference with Inamori.
The airline said the plan aims to achieve in one year what it originally planned to do in three. It did not say what the potential impact would be on nearly 16 000 previously planned job cuts from a workforce of 50 000.
Onishi only said: "If we should go ahead with appropriate route plans as we just announced, it will be necessary for us to also make the size of our personnel appropriate."
The latest moves follow reports of the airline coming under heavy pressure from creditors to impose further swingeing cuts to jobs and unprofitable routes.
The ailing flagship carrier made a net loss of ¥177.9bn for the nine months to December, the worst figure since its merger with Japan Air System in 2002.
- AFP
