More than two-thirds of Japan Airlines' (JAL) retired employees have agreed to cuts to their pension plans in a bid to cut costs at the struggling carrier.
The airline has secured approvals from 5,991 of the 8,936 retired employees it contacted, says a JAL spokeswoman.
"This works out to about 67%, which is more than the two-thirds we need," she adds.
Separately, more than 91% of JAL's current employees have agreed to similar cuts, she adds.
Out of 15,742 employees, 14,432 have approved the proposed reductions, says the spokeswoman.
Under JAL's proposed plan, pensions could be cut by up to 30% or 50% for retirees and employees respectively.
It is not known yet how much the cuts will save JAL, and when the cuts will be implemented, says the spokeswoman.
"Our pension fund is currently short of $300 billion yen ($3.3 billion), if we were to pay out all pension plans today," she adds.
JAL posted a fiscal second quarter net loss of ¥32.1 billion ($348 million) and has applied to the government-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan (ETIC) for a bail-out.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
