Japan Airlines Corporation Ordinary Shares (JALFQ)

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http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T100612002297.htm

JAL to slash 3,600 additional jobs
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Embattled Japan Airlines likely will increase the number of staff it will cut by the end of fiscal 2012 to 19,300, up 3,600 from its initial reduction plan, according to sources.

The additional cuts are expected to save JAL about 128 billion yen in labor costs by fiscal 2012.

After the latest round of cuts, JAL, which is undergoing court-administered rehabilitation procedures, will have about 32,600 employees--40 percent fewer than before it filed for court protection from bankruptcy in January.

The personnel target will be included in the airline's rehabilitation scheme to be submitted to the Tokyo District Court at the end of August.

JAL hopes the corporate downsizing will help the airline overhaul its management culture and steadily generate annual profits, the sources said.

JAL decided to ramp up the number of job cuts after financial institutions complained its original target was too low. When JAL filed for bankruptcy under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, the airline stated in its rehabilitation scheme that it would shed 15,700 workers at JAL and its group companies by the end of fiscal 2012.

The airline also plans to accelerate the job cuts. It had let 3,000 personnel go as of March 31, and plans to cut about 16,000 more by the end of fiscal 2010.

JAL hopes its intensifying efforts to cut staff will encourage financial institutions to approve the new rehabilitation scheme.

The additional staff cuts were made possible after JAL decided recently to increase the number of international and domestic routes it would terminate from 31 to 45.

According to sources, 4,000 JAL employees have applied for the airline's special early-retirement plan, easily exceeding the 2,700 applicants JAL had expected. The airline plans to offer a similar early-retirement plan this autumn, and expects several thousand personnel will take up the offer.

JAL plans to cut staff mainly by selling off its subsidiaries. It hopes to retain as many pilots and aircraft maintenance staff as possible so flight safety will not be compromised.

(Jun. 13, 2010)