JAL turnaround plan eyes move to Delta group: report
"JAL turnaround plan eyes move to Delta group: report
2:27pm EST
TOKYO (Reuters) - A state-backed fund in charge of turning around Japan Airlines (JAL) <9205.T> wants to see a tieup between JAL and Delta Air Lines <DAL.N>, Kyodo news reported on Monday.
The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan (ETIC) has proposed in its restructuring plan that JAL form a business tieup with Delta with no capital injected by the American carrier, Kyodo said, citing unidentified sources close to the matter.
The report said ETIC eyed a switch to the Delta-led global SkyTeam alliance in April 2011.
The fund has estimated that an alliance with Delta would give JAL an annual benefit of 17.2 billion yen ($186 million), three times more than what expanded ties with American Airlines <AMR.N> would offer.
JAL is currently a member of the Oneworld alliance with American.
JAL, Asia's largest airline by revenue, will likely file for bankruptcy this month as part of a state-led restructuring, sources have told Reuters.
As JAL appears headed for bankruptcy, Delta and American have been courting it with rival offers of financial aid, eager to gain access to its routes to fast-growing Asian markets and to get a stronger foothold in Japan.
JAL had been aiming to decide this month whether to keep ties with American in the Oneworld alliance or join hands with Delta and the rival SkyTeam group.
However, Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said on Friday a decision would likely be delayed.
(Reporting by Chris Gallagher; editing by Karen Foster)
($1 = 92.48 yen)
© Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.
Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests."
--------------------------------------------------
"Rehab body wants JAL to tie with Delta
Plan includes making move to SkyTeam in April 2011
Kyodo News
The government-backed body in charge of turning around Japan Airlines intends to include in its rehabilitation plan a tieup between JAL and Delta Air Lines and have the struggling carrier switch to the SkyTeam alliance in April 2011, sources said Monday.
Under the plan being readied by the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. of Japan, JAL would also have to cut 15,600 jobs, or about 30 percent of its group workforce, by the business year through March 2013, the sources said.
ETIC is calculating that an alliance with Delta, the largest U.S. airline, would lead to a projected annual benefit of ¥17.2 billion, three times larger than what an expanded alliance with American Airlines would offer.
The benefit per year with American is estimated at ¥5.4 billion. American and JAL are both currently members of the oneworld alliance.
ETIC wants JAL to tie up with Delta without receiving capital from the U.S. airline, the sources said.
In recent months, both Delta and American have been wooing cash-strapped JAL with competing offers of financial aid.
No Japanese airline is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, which has more routes connecting Japan and Asia than does the oneworld alliance. Japan's other big airline, All Nippon Airways Co., is a member of the Star Alliance grouping.
As JAL prepares to file for a court-backed bankruptcy, ETIC is also highly likely to have the company delisted from the stock market.
ETIC had been trying to find a way to avoid a delisting because a high number of individual investors own shares in the airline. It eventually decided on the delisting after judging it wouldn't be able to get JAL's key creditor banks to agree to a debt waiver.
Transport minister Seiji Maehara is set to meet Tuesday with top executives of the banks to try to seek their understanding about JAL filing for bankruptcy and their continued support for the airline.
Under the turnaround plan, JAL and Delta would file for antitrust immunity for Japan-U.S. routes under the open skies agreement the two nations recently signed, the sources said.
JAL aims to beef up international routes at Tokyo's Haneda airport, where a fourth runway due to open in October will increase the number of flights. It intends to open a Haneda-Los Angeles route in fiscal 2011 and connect JAL with routes of the SkyTeam alliance.
ETIC plans to decide on its bailout package for JAL as early as Jan. 19, at the same time it will have the airline file for court protection under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law.
According to an estimate by ETIC, the carrier's liabilities exceed its assets by more than ¥860 billion, the sources said.
Under court protection, ETIC plans to reduce ¥730 billion of JAL's liabilities and invest ¥300 billion in the carrier so its assets exceed its liabilities by more than ¥160 billion, the sources said.
The government and ETIC are also arranging for 77-year-old Kazuo Inamori, honorary chairman of Kyocera Corp., to become chief executive officer of JAL during the turnaround process, they added.
Inamori is not only known for his management skills in bolstering Kyocera into one of the nation's leading electronic parts makers, but also for having rare close ties within the business community with the Democratic Party of Japan.
Even after bankruptcy proceedings, the government-backed body will guarantee more than ¥470 billion in receivables for payments of fuel and other commercial transactions necessary to keep JAL flying, they added. The carrier's creditor banks will be required to waive about ¥350 billion, out of approximately ¥430 billion in unsecured bank loans.
ETIC estimates JAL's consolidated operating loss will expand to about ¥265.1 billion for the current business year, compared with a year-earlier loss of ¥50.88 billion, due to a drop in passengers.
The Japan Times: Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010
(C) All rights reserved
Go back to The Japan Times Online "