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TOKYO : Japan Airlines, which declared last month, said on Tuesday it will maintain and expand its alliance with American Airlines and its Oneworld partners rather than switch to Delta Air Lines.
"Japan Airlines today decided to enhance our tie-up with Oneworld member American Airlines in trans-Pacific routes" and carry out joint business operations, the embattled Japanese carrier said in a statement.
US giants American Airlines (AA) and Delta have been competing to invest in ailing JAL, which filed for bankruptcy with 26 billion dollars of debt in one of Japan's biggest ever corporate failures.
Now in state-supervised restructuring, the iconic Japanese airline plans to slash unprofitable routes and more than 15,000 jobs while also selling off some assets in order to return to financial health.
Both US airlines have circled JAL, hoping to benefit from a new US-Japan "open skies" deal to expand their reach in the lucrative Asia-Pacific aviation market, the world's largest since last year.
Japanese media had recently reported that JAL was considering switching to the SkyTeam alliance of Delta, the world's largest airline, but then dismissed the plan as costly and unlikely to be approved by US anti-trust authorities.
JAL said on Tuesday that together with AA "we will apply to Japanese and US authorities for anti-trust immunity on Pacific routes".
If the application is approved, JAL and AA will start joint business operations "focusing on coordination of the two companies' networks and sales cooperation," JAL said.
American and its partners last month offered JAL a financial lifeline of 1.4 billion dollars in investment - but JAL said on Tuesday it had not plans to accept the cash offer.
"The partnership with American is business tie-up," a JAL official said. "We have no plan to bring in their capital.
He added that the Japanese carrier had notified Delta of its decision earlier on Tuesday.
JAL is hobbled by heavy costs stretching back to its days as a state-owned flag carrier, as well as a route network that includes flights to small and unprofitable domestic airports.
It has appointed business guru Kazuo Inamori as its new chairman to oversee the company's radical restructuring.
"The JAL group is currently doing its best for an early corporate revival," the company said in its statement.
"We will be reborn as an airline that will be chosen by more customers through enhancing tie-ups with Oneworld carriers and current code-share partners ... in addition to the joint businesses with AA."
In December, Japan and the United States reached a liberalisation deal to replace a 1952 accord that fixed the number of US-Japan flights.
The new agreement will allow carriers to adapt their schedules to passenger demand, make code-sharing easier and will give US airlines greater access to Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports. - AFP/ms
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