The Tokyo Stock Exchange has announced it will de-list JAL shares after the company filed for bankruptcy protection. This ends months of speculation about the carrier's fate and launching a massive overhaul to shed the fat and inefficiency that hobbled Asia’s biggest airline. Liu Ying has more.
The Japanese government and the Streamline Alliance, which includes Delta, have issued statements pledging assistance and support to JAL in any way possible.
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A worker looks down in front of a logo of Japan Airlines (JAL) at
the check-in counter at Haneda airport in Tokyo January 14,
2010. |
With 16.5 billion US dollars in debt, Japan Airlines will go down in Japanese corporate history as one of its biggest failures.
The Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary hopes the company will come up with a plan.
Hirofumi Hirano, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Japan, said, "We don’t want to stir anxiety over the company such as whether they will sustain its operation and so on. So, we hope that they will come up with a sound plan to avoid such anxiety."
The filing is expected to be followed by a restructuring plan crafted by a government-backed corporate turnaround body.
JAL' President Haruka Nishimatsu is expected to resign.
Leadership of the company will be handed over to Kazuo Inamori. He is the founder of electronic components Kyocera and Japan's No. 2 mobile carrier KDDI.
The airline's shares tumbled in morning trade on Tuesday. Investors are bracing for a seemingly inevitable removal from the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
The issue lost more than 90 percent of its value over the last week. It tumbled another 29 percent on Monday to 5 yen.
JAL is now essentially worthless. Its market capitalization is about 150 million US dollars, the price of one Boeing 787 jet.
