SkyTeam shows strong interest in wooing JAL

By KELLY OLSEN

INCHEON, South Korea

Executives with SkyTeam alliance said Thursday they want Japan Airlines to join their group and suggested that doing so could be a boon for the troubled carrier.

"We would be keenly interested to see whether JAL would be interested to join SkyTeam as a potential partner," said Leo van Wijk, chairman of SkyTeam, one of three major alliances of global airlines. He spoke at a news conference after a meeting of the group's governing board.

Delta Air Lines, the world's biggest airline operator, is a member of SkyTeam. Other members include Air France-KLM and Korean Air.

Japan Airlines currently belongs to the rival oneworld group, which includes American Airlines.

It's unclear whether JAL would remain with oneworld if SkyTeam were to offer a better, more lucrative deal at a time when the Japanese airline is trying to restructure and stem a record flow of red ink.

JAL, which is Japan's biggest airline and can offer partners access to the world's second-biggest economy, has reportedly been in talks on financial tie-ups with SkyTeam's Delta Air and France-KLM, as well as oneworld's American Airlines, British Airways and Qantas.

The airline, which operates more than half of Japan's domestic flights, has suffered amid declining travel and high costs. The Japanese government late last month formed a committee led by the transport minister to focus on strategies to get it back on track.

Japanese media have reported a revival will require over 500 billion yen ($5.5 billion) in public funds and bank loans as well as scrapping nearly 50 flight routes and cutting 9,000 jobs, or 20 percent of the work force.

The airline recorded its biggest-ever quarterly net loss of 99 billion yen in the three months ended June 30. It is forecasting a net loss for the current fiscal year ending March 2010.

Delta CEO Richard Anderson declined to comment on any discussions with JAL.

Dominique Patry, a vice president with Air France, said JAL's switch would clearly be a plus. He said Air France, as well as SkyTeam member Alitalia, have long had good relations with JAL.

"It goes without saying that should Japan Airlines decide to go within SkyTeam, we would be more than happy to expand our respective partnerships. It would be highly rewarding both for Japan Airlines and for the European partners," he said.

A JAL spokesman declined comment.

Alliances allow airlines to offer more flights by cooperating with partners. Star Alliance, the biggest, includes United Air Lines, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.

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Associated Press writer Shino Yuasa in Tokyo contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS date of earnings period in graf 9)