American Airlines may lead other members of the Oneworld alliance in an investment in Japan Airlines Corp to help an ally predicting a fourth loss in five years, two people familiar with the plan said.
American, the world’s second-largest carrier, has hired an investment bank to advise on an undecided financial investment in Japan Air, its partner in the Oneworld marketing group, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the discussions aren’t public.
Executives from American, Qantas Airways Ltd and British Airways Plc met with Japan Air officials two days ago, the sources said.
Japan Air, which has received three government bailouts since 2001, the most recent in June, has also been in talks on possible stake sales to Delta Air Lines Inc and Air France-KLM, both members of the Skyteam Alliance, people familiar with those negotiations have said.
Japan Air’s Oneworld partners provide about US$500 million a year in revenue to it through tie-ups, the officials said.
“It’s better for Japan Air to stay in the Oneworld group,” said Mitsushige Akino, who oversees US$645 million in assets in Tokyo at Ichiyoshi Investment Management Co.
“There would be lots of unseen costs involved in leaving the group,” he said.
JAL, as the carrier is known, posted a ¥99 billion (US$1.1 billion) loss in the first quarter, the most in at least six years, as business and leisure travel plummeted during the country’s worst postwar recession.
The carrier, privatized by the government in 1987, had a 25 percent drop in overseas passengers in June, the biggest decline since outbreaks of SARS and bird flu in 2003.
The company gets more than half its airline business from international travel.
JAL, which is the region’s most indebted carrier, may collapse unless it shrinks operations, reforms its high-cost structure and regains lenders’ confidence, Seiji Maehara, the country’s new transport minister said on Thursday.
The carrier, which predicts a loss of ¥63 billion in the year ending March, received a ¥100 billion loan from the state-owned Development Bank of Japan and other local lenders in June.
JAL plans to cut 6,800 jobs by the end of 2011, and aims to eliminate the most routes in its history, president Haruka Nishimatsu said earlier this week.
The carrier had 47,526 employees at the end of March.
“JAL is speeding up its restructuring,” Akino said. “Accepting an investment from a foreign carrier may actually help it push through job cuts.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
At least 35 people were killed and dozens more injured when a man plowed his car into pedestrians exercising around a sports center in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai on Monday night. Footage showing bodies lying on the pavement appeared on social media in the hours after the crash, but had vanished by early Tuesday morning, and local police reported only “injuries.” It took officials nearly 24 hours to reveal that dozens had died — in one of the country’s deadliest incidents in years. China heavily monitors social media platforms, where it is common for words and topics deemed
Typhoon Usagi yesterday had weakened into a tropical storm, but a land warning issued by the Central Weather Administration (CWA) was still in effect in four areas in southern Taiwan. As of 5pm yesterday, Tropical Storm Usagi was over waters 120km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost tip of Taiwan proper, and was moving north at 9kph, CWA data showed. The storm was expected to veer northeast later yesterday. It had maximum sustained winds of 101kph, with gusts of up to 126kph, the data showed. The CWA urged residents of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) to remain alert to
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