Japan Airlines To Remove 2,140 Jobs

January 8, 2009 8:32 a.m. EST

Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - Japan Airlines will remove 2,140 jobs from its international unit to cushion the impact of the global recession on the air carrier.

With the job cuts, Japan Airlines will have reduced its 16,240 manpower by 13 percent to 14,100 by the end of March 2011, said airline spokesman Stephen Pearlman.

Aside from cutting its payroll, the air carrier will retire its older and less fuel efficient aircraft to stop its financial hemorrhage the past two years. The 2,140 job cuts is just the start. Japan Airlines plans to slash its labor cost by another $109 million (10 billion yen) after it had already cut $570 million (52 billion yen) the past year by slashing jobs and reducing the bonuses and retirement benefits of employees.

Pearlman said the decrease in manpower will be done through attrition, not lay offs. Some of the jobs will be transferred to other parts of Japan Airlines, while 1,640 will be removed through attrition.

Japan Airlines cost-cutting measures are being implemented after it registered its largest monthly drop in overseas passengers in five years by 17.1 percent in September.

Meanwhile, the Japanese Labor Ministry said it will provide loans to unemployed and homeless citizens who are staying at four shelters established in Tokyo until they find places of their own. Of the 500 who had stayed at a tent village in Hibiya Park, 300 were relocated to four sites opened by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.