JAL revamp process going 'smoothly': Minister

TOKYO: Japan's transport minister said Tuesday that good progress was being made in drawing up a restructuring plan for Japan Airlines, which is reported to be considering more than 9,000 job cuts.

JAL, seeking another public bailout to keep flying, is putting together an emergency turnaround plan under the supervision of a government task force.

"The assessment of assets and the compilation of the rehabilitation plan are going more smoothly than expected," Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said.

The revamp looks likely to "solve many problems," he told reporters after being briefed by the task force.

JAL, which lost more than one billion dollars in the April-June quarter, announced last month plans for 6,800 job cuts, a drastic reduction in routes and a tie-up with a foreign carrier.

But the new centre-left government said the measures were insufficient and was refraining from granting another injection of public funds.

Under a new turnaround plan being drafted, JAL would boost the number of job cuts to 9,000 and seek a debt waiver from creditors of 250 billion yen (2.8 billion dollars), the Kyodo News agency reported, citing unnamed sources.

JAL would also aim to boost its capital by around 150 billion yen and its president Haruka Nishimatsu would step down to take responsibility for the airline's troubles, the report said.