JAL plans to scrap 50 domestic, int'l routes by FY 2011

+

TOKYO, Sept. 16 Kyodo -
Japan Airlines Corp. plans to eliminate a total of 50 domestic and
international routes by the end of fiscal 2011 through March 2012 as part of
its restructuring measures, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.
Japan's top airline is considering terminating 29, or around 20 percent, of its
domestic routes and 21 international routes, a plan included in a draft of its
business improvement plan submitted Tuesday to a panel set up by the Land,
Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry.
Cash-strapped JAL is considering terminating flights using seven airports in
Japan, including those in Hyogo, Shizuoka and Hokkaido prefectures, and nine
airports overseas.
The 29 domestic routes include flights between Shizuoka airport and New Chitose
airport in Hokkaido and between Kobe airport in Hyogo Prefecture and Tokyo's
Haneda airport.
''The figures (on route suspensions and other measures) from JAL are still in
progress so they may change,'' said a senior transport ministry official.
But while local opposition to JAL's plan is widely anticipated, the airline
will be required to carry through the drastic restructuring measures to turn
its battered business around.
Of the international routes, JAL is studying the elimination of routes
connecting Narita airport and Rome in Italy and Sao Paulo in Brazil, as well as
routes linking Tokyo and Mexico, and Osaka and Dalian in China, the sources
said.
JAL also plans to withdraw from several international airports including in
Mexico and China.
As part of its business improvement plan, which JAL is seeking to finalize by
the end of the month, the carrier intends to lay off 6,800 group employees over
the three years through March 2012.
It is in talks with the world's two largest air carriers -- Delta Air Lines
Inc. and American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp. -- and other foreign airlines
on receiving capital investment.
==Kyodo