JAPAN: Government says it will fully support Japan Airlines (JAL) as the national airline carrier heads for bankruptcy

Record ID: 464987

  • Title: JAPAN: Government says it will fully support Japan Airlines (JAL) as the national airline carrier heads for bankruptcy
  • Date: 13th January 2010
  • Summary: TOKYO, JAPAN (FILE) (REUTERS) JAL AIRCRAFT TAKING OFF JAL AIRCRAFT FLYING OFF NARITA AIRPORT TERMINAL CHECK IN AREA CUSTOMERS CHECKING IN ON JAL'S E-TICKET MACHINES CUSTOMER BEING HELPED BY JAL STAFF CUSTOMER CHECKING IN AT JAL COUNTER JAL STAFF TALKING TO CUSTOMER TOKYO, JAPAN (JANUARY 12, 2010) (TV TOKYO - NO ACCESS JAPAN/CLEARED FOR INTERNET ACCESS/SEE ABOVE FOR FURTHER RESTRICTIONS) JAPANESE FINANCE MINISTER NAOTO KAN WALKING IN FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JAPANESE FINANCE MINISTER, NAOTO KAN, SAYING: "The government has already expressed support, through five cabinet ministers, to JAL, but I wonder whether that's enough. If we need to express further support, we will take action as needed." REPORTERS TAKING NOTES AT NEWS CONFERENCE WHILE KAN LISTENS TO QUESTIONS
  • Embargoed: 28th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVABRWOMDMKS3QCFJ4GQG2R6QSXE
  • Story Text: Japanese Finance Minister Naoto Kan said on Tuesday (January 12) the government will express further support for Japan Airlines Corp if necessary.
    "The government has already expressed support, through five cabinet ministers, to JAL, but I wonder whether that's enough. If we need to express further support, we will take action as needed," Kan said during the news conference.
    Kan also said shareholders should bear a significant responsibility for JAL's position.
    Japan's government is under pressure to bail out the national airline carrier, which is weighed down by $16 billion dollars in debt, mired in losses and grappling with a massive pension shortfall.
    Japan Airlines on Tuesday also said that two-thirds of its retirees have agreed to proposed pension cuts, clearing a hurdle in its push to cut its pension shortfall and qualify for an injection of public funds.
    The airline needed the agreement of two-thirds of current employees and retirees for the cuts so it can reduce a pension shortfall estimated at 331 billion yen ($3.60 billion) at the end of March.
    Japan's Nikkei stock average climbed to a 15-month closing high on Tuesday but some large bank shares dipped on concern about their exposure to ailing Japan Airlines Corp.
    Shares of JAL slid 44.8 percent to end at a record low 37 yen, after being untraded all day due to a flood of sell orders on growing expectations the carrier is headed for bankruptcy and a delisting from the Tokyo exchange.
    Analysts said investor wariness about what would happen to JAL, which is an event being followed much in the way that GM's fate was in the United States, had weighed on the benchmark Nikkei index during morning trade.
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