 Japan's national carrier must buy new fuel-efficient planes to compete |
Japan Airlines said it will scrap 4,300 jobs at the firm a year earlier than planned, to speed up the revival of the struggling airline. The job reduction plan, announced earlier this year, aims to cut staff costs by 50bn yen ($403m; �202m) and help the carrier return to profit.
The job losses, accounting for about 8% of staff, will now come by 2009, rather than 2010 as originally envisaged.
JAL has suffered over the past two years from high fuel costs.
A string of safety lapses since 2005, which include an engine fire and wheels falling off during a landing, also hit the airline as passengers were driven to rival All Nippon Airways.
Japan Airlines posted a loss of more than 47bn yen in the year to March 2006, losses which continued in the first quarter of this year.
The company needs to offload its massive debts as quickly as possible to secure additional funding to invest in new fuel-efficient planes, analysts say.
"We want to accelerate our restructuring measures," said a JAL spokesman, but declined to give a specific date when it hoped these measures would take effect.
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