JAL dichiara il fallimento!!
January 18, 2010
"I would have a fire sale -- get rid of the family silver, sell everything that is non-core and focus in on the core and make that work efficiently," -- Andrew Miller, CAPA Consulting.
Japan Airlines is expected to file for one of the country's largest ever bankruptcies on Tuesday, marking the failure of the former state-owned carrier that was once a symbol of Japan's international aspirations.
JAL, Asia's largest airline by revenues, will remain in the skies under a state-backed restructuring plan as it tries to free itself from about USD$16 billion in debt in exchange for slashing its workforce by a third and shedding unprofitable routes, sources have said.
JAL, which has been bailed out by the Japanese government three times in the past 10 years, must now look to reinvent itself through painful staff and operation cuts as well as tough decisions about foreign capital and alliances.
The move could make rival All Nippon Airways Japan's new flagship carrier, some analysts said.
JAL had earlier been seen by many Japanese as a symbol of the country's postwar boom as it transformed a handful of leased planes in 1951 into a nearly 50,000 staff airline with a fleet of almost 280 aircraft.
Echoing similar bankruptcies by overseas airlines such as Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, JAL plans to cut some 15,000 jobs and erase about two dozen unprofitable routes, sources said.
JAL is expected to file for protection from creditors using a procedure that will allow it to continue operations and seek to rebuild itself, similar to Chapter 11 in the United States.
In return, the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan (ETIC) will support the carrier with about JPY300 billion yen in capital and its creditors will be asked to forgive about JPY350 billion of their loans, sources said.
Units including Japan Airlines International, which handles domestic and overseas flights and JAL Capital, which raises operational funds, will also file for bankruptcy, one source said.
But that will only be the beginning for an airline with depleted capital, facing headwinds such as rising fuel costs and shrinking passenger numbers, on top of hefty restructuring costs.
JAL needs to do what it has long put off: make a list of its operations in order of priority and start cutting the ones it doesn't need, said Andrew Miller, chief executive of CAPA Consulting.
"I would have a fire sale -- get rid of the family silver, sell everything that is non-core and focus in on the core and make that work efficiently," he said.
JAL will also need to come to a decision about competing offers for aid from Oneworld alliance partner American Airlines and rival Delta, which is trying to woo JAL into the competing SkyTeam group.
The carrier has spent two decades trying to recover public trust following a 1985 crash that became the world's worst single aircraft disaster in history, claiming 520 lives.
JAL, headed for its fourth net loss in five years, last week drew down on the JPY145 billion in emergency funding left from a JPY200 billion credit facility supplied by the state-owned Development Bank of Japan.
JAL was saddled with JPY1.5 trillion in total liabilities as of the end of September. That level of debt would make it the sixth-biggest bankruptcy ever in Japan.
The state-backed ETIC can draw on government-backed funding to support ailing Japanese companies. The fund has said it would guarantee payment for fuel and other commercial transactions to ensure JAL can maintain its operations.
Kazuo Inamori, the 77-year-old founder of electronics maker Kyocera, was tapped last week to become JAL's new chief executive to oversee its restructuring.
(Reuters)
January 18, 2010
"I would have a fire sale -- get rid of the family silver, sell everything that is non-core and focus in on the core and make that work efficiently," -- Andrew Miller, CAPA Consulting.
Japan Airlines is expected to file for one of the country's largest ever bankruptcies on Tuesday, marking the failure of the former state-owned carrier that was once a symbol of Japan's international aspirations.
JAL, Asia's largest airline by revenues, will remain in the skies under a state-backed restructuring plan as it tries to free itself from about USD$16 billion in debt in exchange for slashing its workforce by a third and shedding unprofitable routes, sources have said.
JAL, which has been bailed out by the Japanese government three times in the past 10 years, must now look to reinvent itself through painful staff and operation cuts as well as tough decisions about foreign capital and alliances.
The move could make rival All Nippon Airways Japan's new flagship carrier, some analysts said.
JAL had earlier been seen by many Japanese as a symbol of the country's postwar boom as it transformed a handful of leased planes in 1951 into a nearly 50,000 staff airline with a fleet of almost 280 aircraft.
Echoing similar bankruptcies by overseas airlines such as Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, JAL plans to cut some 15,000 jobs and erase about two dozen unprofitable routes, sources said.
JAL is expected to file for protection from creditors using a procedure that will allow it to continue operations and seek to rebuild itself, similar to Chapter 11 in the United States.
In return, the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan (ETIC) will support the carrier with about JPY300 billion yen in capital and its creditors will be asked to forgive about JPY350 billion of their loans, sources said.
Units including Japan Airlines International, which handles domestic and overseas flights and JAL Capital, which raises operational funds, will also file for bankruptcy, one source said.
But that will only be the beginning for an airline with depleted capital, facing headwinds such as rising fuel costs and shrinking passenger numbers, on top of hefty restructuring costs.
JAL needs to do what it has long put off: make a list of its operations in order of priority and start cutting the ones it doesn't need, said Andrew Miller, chief executive of CAPA Consulting.
"I would have a fire sale -- get rid of the family silver, sell everything that is non-core and focus in on the core and make that work efficiently," he said.
JAL will also need to come to a decision about competing offers for aid from Oneworld alliance partner American Airlines and rival Delta, which is trying to woo JAL into the competing SkyTeam group.
The carrier has spent two decades trying to recover public trust following a 1985 crash that became the world's worst single aircraft disaster in history, claiming 520 lives.
JAL, headed for its fourth net loss in five years, last week drew down on the JPY145 billion in emergency funding left from a JPY200 billion credit facility supplied by the state-owned Development Bank of Japan.
JAL was saddled with JPY1.5 trillion in total liabilities as of the end of September. That level of debt would make it the sixth-biggest bankruptcy ever in Japan.
The state-backed ETIC can draw on government-backed funding to support ailing Japanese companies. The fund has said it would guarantee payment for fuel and other commercial transactions to ensure JAL can maintain its operations.
Kazuo Inamori, the 77-year-old founder of electronics maker Kyocera, was tapped last week to become JAL's new chief executive to oversee its restructuring.
(Reuters)
