TOKYO: Japan Airlines said Friday it will eliminate 4,300 jobs by March 2009, a year earlier than planned, as the ailing carrier tries to return to healthy profits.

Asia's largest airline has forecast a return to profit in the current financial year on the back of a major restructuring drive and a switch to more profitable routes after two straight years of losses.

JAL had initially planned to cut 4,300 jobs, largely through early retirement, by March 31, 2010.

"We are going to speed that up and we expect to achieve that target by the end of financial year 2008, or March 31, 2009," JAL spokesman Stephen Pearlman said.

JAL is maintaining its target of increasing productivity by 10 per cent by 2010 but "in sections where it's possible to implement processes that will enable us to increase that productivity earlier, we will be able to do that," Pearlman said.

Among the cuts, JAL aims to offer earlier retirement for a total of 700 ground staff this fiscal year and speed up reduction of 600 cabin attendant positions by one year, he said.

But he denied a newspaper report that the firm is also seeking approval to cut retirement benefits by 10 per cent from the 2008 fiscal year, saying JAL is starting a new pension system that will cut down costs for the company.

JAL has had a troubled record since its 1987 privatisation and a complex merger with domestic carrier Japan Air Systems.

JAL has suffered from high fuel costs and a series of highly publicised safety scares that sent customers into the arms of rival All Nippon Airways.

- AFP/yy