Japan Airlines may miss rehabilitation plan deadline

Japan Airlines could miss its 30-Jun-2010 deadline for submitting a rehabilitation plan by up to two months, as a number of prefectural governments voiced opposition to the restructuring and the carrier's proposed route reductions (The Nikkei/Yomiuri Shimbun, 26-Apr-2010). Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Minister, Seiji Maehara, however, stated that "even if submission of the [restructuring] plan is delayed, there is no fear of a second bankruptcy". JAL is reportedly considering a withdrawal from Nagoya Airport after the Transport Ministry expressed reservations about a plan to move some domestic services to the airport from Central Japan International Airport (Asia Pulse, 23-Apr-2010). The airline and state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan, which is overseeing the carrier's restructuring efforts, initially concluded that JAL would be able to operate profitably on Nagoya Airport routes using smaller aircraft.