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TOKYO : Japan Airlines (JAL) will spend up to two months deciding whether to stay with the Oneworld airline alliance or switch to SkyTeam, a senior executive said Thursday.
The cash-strapped flagship carrier will first focus on working with a government-backed corporate rescue body to improve its financial standing, Shuta Saito, vice-president for industry affairs, told Dow Jones Newswires.
"JAL is still in talks with Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp. (ETIC) in ways to restructure the company," he said in Singapore, where he is attending an Association of Asia Pacific Airlines meeting.
"Once an agreement is reached, we will then decide whether to stay with Oneworld or go with SkyTeam," he told Dow Jones Newswires.
Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam alliance partners have offered a billion-dollar financial lifeline to troubled JAL, which faces a possibility of bankruptcy as Tokyo mulls ways to rebuild Asia's largest carrier.
Meanwhile, American Airlines, a member of the Oneworld alliance, is also seeking a tie-up with JAL, eyeing its lucrative Asian landing slots.
"We will likely stay with Oneworld on sentimental reasons but there is no firm decision on this yet," Saito said.
JAL president Haruka Nishimatsu said last week the company aimed to conclude an alliance agreement with a foreign carrier by the end of the year.
He said it "seems natural" to maintain ties with American Airlines, which has said it might team up with US private equity firm TPG to invest in JAL.
- AFP /ls
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