JAL could take out subordinated loans, which would allow the airline to count part of the debt as capital, as the impact of the novel coronavirus continues to gut demand for air travel, according to the sources.
Seeing the need to strengthen its financial standing by next spring, JAL is hoping to begin full-blown negotiations on its capital-raising plan with a group of banks by the year-end, the sources said.
JAL has already informally informed its lenders of such a view, the sources said, adding possible options to raise capital also include the issuance of subordinated corporate bonds and a public offering.
Another major Japanese carrier,
JAL's estimated red ink for the July-September period would mark an improvement from its operating loss of
JAL filed for bankruptcy in 2010, which exempted it from repaying remaining loans of over
JAL relisted in 2012 after cutting over 100 aircraft and about 16,000 employees.
JAL is scheduled to release its first-half earnings report on Friday. So far, the airline has withheld earnings projections for the current business year through March, citing uncertainty due to the pandemic.
According to JAL data, its international passengers plunged 97.5 percent in July and 96.9 percent in August from a year earlier, while its domestic passengers dropped 64.7 percent in July and 71.7 percent in August.
Despite the business challenges, JAL's capital adequacy ratio has remained more stable than that of many foreign carriers, at 45.9 percent as of the end of June.
Meanwhile, ANA is expecting to book a record annual net loss of around
As part of restructuring efforts, ANA plans to slash up to 30 large jets and around 3,500 jobs from its current group workforce of about 46,000 by fiscal 2022.
ANA will releases its earnings results for the April-September period on Tuesday.
==Kyodo
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