ID :
81751
Fri, 09/25/2009 - 23:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/81751
The shortlink copeid
Hatoyama to mull public assistance for JAL
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, Sept. 25 Kyodo -
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday in Pennsylvania that the
government may need to consider rescuing Japan Airlines Corp. using public
money, while the transport ministry launched a task force of corporate
turnaround experts in Tokyo on Friday to help rehabilitate the struggling
airline.
JAL had asked the government for emergency loans backed by taxpayers' money
under a rescue program recently launched to help improve the balance sheets of
big firms struggling after the Japanese economy got mired in the global
recession.
''Public support may become necessary,'' Hatoyama told reporters in Pittsburgh
where he was attending the Group of 20 summit of major advanced and emerging
economies.
Hatoyama said he wants to finalize the envisioned rescue scheme ''as soon as
possible'' after talking with Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Minister Seiji Maehara.
JAL, which has been urged to redraw by late November a business improvement
plan that it had been seeking to compile by the end of September, must come up
with a ''more solid'' restructuring scheme, Hatoyama said.
Under the guidance of the new task force, JAL will draw up an outline of the
new plan by around late October and finalize it around the end of November, the
transport ministry said.
JAL had originally planned to submit to the ministry a restructuring plan by
the end of this month. The latest government move gave the company two more
months to redraw the plan after Maehara expressed doubts about the feasibility
of its original proposals.
Maehara told reporters late Friday that JAL should thoroughly reconsider its
restructuring measures, including a plan to scrap a total of 50 domestic and
international routes.
The five-member task force is led by Shinjiro Takagi, who served as chairman of
the decision-making panel of the now-defunct Industrial Revitalization Corp. of
Japan, the body which assisted heavily indebted but otherwise viable firms from
2003 to 2007, the government said.
Assisting Takagi in the new entity is Kazuhiko Toyama, who was the IRCJ's chief
operating officer.
The task force will take charge of due diligence on JAL's assets and will
scrutinize its business improvement plan to offer advice for the future
direction of the airline.
In response to the launch of the task force, JAL put off submitting a revised
corporate pension program to its internal pension fund committee, originally
scheduled Friday.
The airline originally planned to drastically cut pension costs -- more than 50
percent at the most -- as one of the key restructuring steps. For any such plan
to push through, approval from more than two-thirds of the beneficiaries is
needed, but given the strong opposition from many of them, the airline had been
revising the program.
JAL said it wants to explain the revised plan to the transport ministry's task
force first. The company now expects to notify both its incumbent and retired
employees about the pension program in October or later.
On Thursday in Tokyo, JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu met with Maehara, asking
the government to use the rescue program that was applied to Elpida Memory Inc.
earlier this year.
The struggling chipmaker signed in August to receive some 30 billion yen in
investment from the state-backed Development Bank of Japan. If the investment
fails, the government will cover 50 to 80 percent of the losses incurred by the
DBJ with taxpayers' money.
Although Nishimatsu did not disclose the amount sought, Japan's top airline
said it plans to seek government-backed loans to survive the global economic
downturn and remain competitive in the industry.
Earlier this month, JAL submitted a draft plan to an expert panel set up under
the previous administration. In the draft, JAL said it would cut the jobs of
about 6,800 employees, or around 14 percent of its group workforce, and scrap a
total of 50 domestic and international routes over three years through March
2012.
But Maehara has said such efforts are insufficient to revitalize JAL.
==Kyodo
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said Thursday in Pennsylvania that the
government may need to consider rescuing Japan Airlines Corp. using public
money, while the transport ministry launched a task force of corporate
turnaround experts in Tokyo on Friday to help rehabilitate the struggling
airline.
JAL had asked the government for emergency loans backed by taxpayers' money
under a rescue program recently launched to help improve the balance sheets of
big firms struggling after the Japanese economy got mired in the global
recession.
''Public support may become necessary,'' Hatoyama told reporters in Pittsburgh
where he was attending the Group of 20 summit of major advanced and emerging
economies.
Hatoyama said he wants to finalize the envisioned rescue scheme ''as soon as
possible'' after talking with Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism
Minister Seiji Maehara.
JAL, which has been urged to redraw by late November a business improvement
plan that it had been seeking to compile by the end of September, must come up
with a ''more solid'' restructuring scheme, Hatoyama said.
Under the guidance of the new task force, JAL will draw up an outline of the
new plan by around late October and finalize it around the end of November, the
transport ministry said.
JAL had originally planned to submit to the ministry a restructuring plan by
the end of this month. The latest government move gave the company two more
months to redraw the plan after Maehara expressed doubts about the feasibility
of its original proposals.
Maehara told reporters late Friday that JAL should thoroughly reconsider its
restructuring measures, including a plan to scrap a total of 50 domestic and
international routes.
The five-member task force is led by Shinjiro Takagi, who served as chairman of
the decision-making panel of the now-defunct Industrial Revitalization Corp. of
Japan, the body which assisted heavily indebted but otherwise viable firms from
2003 to 2007, the government said.
Assisting Takagi in the new entity is Kazuhiko Toyama, who was the IRCJ's chief
operating officer.
The task force will take charge of due diligence on JAL's assets and will
scrutinize its business improvement plan to offer advice for the future
direction of the airline.
In response to the launch of the task force, JAL put off submitting a revised
corporate pension program to its internal pension fund committee, originally
scheduled Friday.
The airline originally planned to drastically cut pension costs -- more than 50
percent at the most -- as one of the key restructuring steps. For any such plan
to push through, approval from more than two-thirds of the beneficiaries is
needed, but given the strong opposition from many of them, the airline had been
revising the program.
JAL said it wants to explain the revised plan to the transport ministry's task
force first. The company now expects to notify both its incumbent and retired
employees about the pension program in October or later.
On Thursday in Tokyo, JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu met with Maehara, asking
the government to use the rescue program that was applied to Elpida Memory Inc.
earlier this year.
The struggling chipmaker signed in August to receive some 30 billion yen in
investment from the state-backed Development Bank of Japan. If the investment
fails, the government will cover 50 to 80 percent of the losses incurred by the
DBJ with taxpayers' money.
Although Nishimatsu did not disclose the amount sought, Japan's top airline
said it plans to seek government-backed loans to survive the global economic
downturn and remain competitive in the industry.
Earlier this month, JAL submitted a draft plan to an expert panel set up under
the previous administration. In the draft, JAL said it would cut the jobs of
about 6,800 employees, or around 14 percent of its group workforce, and scrap a
total of 50 domestic and international routes over three years through March
2012.
But Maehara has said such efforts are insufficient to revitalize JAL.
==Kyodo
