JAL to maintain international routes, but cut back frequencies

Japan Airlines Corp Chairman, Kazuo Inamori, stated the carrier plans to maintain its international routes, commenting, "I'm fully confident that we can make the international operation profitable" (Kyodo/Dow Jones/AFP, 17-Mar-2010). He added, "JAL without international passenger services is absolutely not something that is on my mind", defying some calls from within the Japanese Government and among financial institutions for the carrier to withdraw completely from all loss-making operations (Kyodo/Dow Jones, 17-Mar-2010). JAL President, Masaru Onishi, added that the airline is currently assembling a plan to scale back services and frequencies, with the resulting cost reductions likely to come into effect from early Autumn-2010. The carrier has already taken steps to reduce goods procurement costs, among other things, according to Mr Onishi. JAL currently operates to US points Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco and has a pending application to joint venture with American Airlines. The carrier also serves Vancouver and, over New York, Sao Paulo.