Japan Airlines Wednesday unveiled the first round of cuts to its route network, flight frequency and fleet plan - part of a massive operational overhaul during bankruptcy protection.

This week's announcements will take effect progressively from September 30. Further cuts, to apply from October, will be announced in stage two in August.

The cuts most significantly affect domestic routes, along with international services to some European destinations, to Brazil and to Brisbane, Australia, where it will close its office.

The carrier is also cutting its staffing levels and reports that it has received 1000 more applications from staff for early retirement than the 2700 it sought.

JAL says the network restructure is aimed at returning the airline to profitability as swiftly as possible by creating a solid business model that can withstand the fluctuations in economic conditions and by generating profits without overly relying on future traffic demand.

The plan also includes the retirement of its Boeing 747-400 and Airbus 300-600 aircraft by the end of this fiscal year and a drastic contraction in the size of operations. It is planning to achieve within one year a result initially planned over a three-year time span.

The airline has decided to discontinue services on 15 international routes with 86 weekly roundtrip flights, as well as on 30 domestic routes with a maximum of 58* daily roundtrip flights. Totaling the changes made since fiscal year 2009, JAL will end operations on 28 international routes with the closure of 11 overseas bases while domestically, 50 routes will be terminated along with 8 offices. The international and domestic passenger capacity (measured in available seat kilometer) will as a result be reduced by 40% and 30% respectively compared to levels in fiscal year 2008. *56 roundtrip flights if excluding seasonally-operated flights


International routes

While the overall scale of the airline’s international passenger operations will shrink by 40 per cent, JAL will greatly expand the use of Haneda airport for international flights to maintain a global network with a focus on pivotal routes that can yield higher business demand.

JAL will leverage on Narita airport as a global hub that serves excellently as a link between North America and Asia, and through detailed planning of flight schedules, provide transit passengers with much smoother transfers and convenience. Furthermore, with the use of JAL’s feeder services, it is convenient for passengers to connect between international flights at Narita and key domestic locations in Japan.

Capitalising on Haneda airport’s strategic location close to downtown Tokyo, Japan Airlines plans to almost triple the number of international flights from the current five daily to 14. In addition to the current short-haul flights within Asia operating during the convenient afternoon time belt, JAL intends to utilise late night and early morning slots at the airport to launch new routes to San Francisco, Honolulu, Paris and Bangkok. JAL aims to construct a well-balanced network by teaming high-traffic services from Haneda to the Americas, Europe and Asia, with its comprehensive connections to regions throughout Japan.

Domestic routes

Aimed at improving profitability of the business in the face of low traffic demand, domestic passenger operations will be reduced by 30 per cent in capacity, achieved through flight discontinuations and frequency reductions on underperforming routes and by means of using smaller, more efficient jets.

*The JAL Group is considering to reduce its stake in HAC following which HAC operated flights will not be considered part of JAL Group operations.

** Operators: JTA - Japan TransOcean Air, JEX - JAL Express, JAC - Japan Air Commuter, RAC - Ryuku Air Commuter