Japan Airlines (JAL) is eyeing a tie-up with another carrier, including foreign ones, as part of its restructuring plans.
"We are not excluding the possibility of tie-ups with other airlines as part of our restructuring plans," says a JAL spokeswoman.
Japanese media reports suggest the carrier is keen to raise ¥250 billion ($2.8 billion) to bolster its balance sheet, and part of this could be via a stake sale to another carrier.
The spokeswoman would not comment on talks, but media reports have named American carriers Delta Air Lines and American Airlines, as well as Europe's Air France-KLM, as potential partners.
In early August JAL said that in the three months ending 30 June it had a net loss of ¥99 billion compared to a net loss of ¥3.4 billion the corresponding period last year.
JAL's operating statistics showed total passenger numbers fell 15% year-on-year in the fiscal quarter to 9.5 million from 11.2 million.
RPKs fell 21% and ASKs fell 12% so the passenger load factor dropped six percentage points to 58.1% from 64.1%.
Cargo freight tonne kilometres, meanwhile, fell 29%.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
