Money-losing Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) is considering raising ¥250 billion (US$2.8 billion) from financial institutions and others including Delta Air Lines Inc under a major restructuring plan, a newspaper said yesterday.
JAL is to announce its management improvement plan by the end of the month.
Under the plan, JAL hopes to raise ¥250 billion, Japan’s Nikkei Shimbun said yesterday, citing no sources. JAL will seek capital from banks, investment funds and others including Delta, the world’s biggest airline operator, the paper said.
Officials at JAL could not be reached for comment yesterday. The company said in a statement on Saturday it was aware of reports on tie-ups between JAL and foreign carriers, but said nothing has been decided.
Hit by plummeting demand amid a slumping global economy and swine flu fears, JAL incurred its biggest-ever quarterly net loss of ¥99 billion in the three months to June.
Delta is in preliminary discussions about buying a stake in JAL for about US$300 million. The U.S. airline giant could become a leading shareholder in JAL and get coveted access to Haneda Airport, close to Tokyo’s business district, a person briefed on the Delta situation said.
The Nikkei said Delta has offered to invest as much as ¥50 billion, which would give it a 11.2 percent stake in JAL.
Delta’s rival American Airlines is also negotiating a possible investment, according to a person familiar with the talks. American would like to form a joint business venture with JAL, in which the two carriers would seek antitrust immunity to work closely in setting schedules and prices for service around the world, according to the person, who spoke on Saturday on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the talks.
JAL is also in talks with Air France-KLM, Europe’s biggest airline group, over a capital tie-up, Japan’s top-selling newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun, reported Saturday.
JAL has forecast a net loss of ¥63 billion for the fiscal year to next March and plans to cut the number of flights and slash costs by ¥53 billion during the current fiscal year and another ¥100 billion in the next fiscal year.
The Nikkei said JAL would cut 4,700 jobs equal to about 10 percent of its group work force under the restructuring plan. The airline will also sell subsidiaries and assets to raise capital.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS