J A L Flies into Bankruptcy !!!

[A4sForever]

UNBELIEVEABLE !!!

'THEY' SAID IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN !!! "They' used to think their sushi didn't stink ... now the rest of the story unfolds ... I heard lots of rumors about it over the past few months, but until it happens, nothing's happened. Now ... it happened. If you're in the airlines biz -- especially the 'international' side of the house, this is huge:

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20100119/D9DAS1DG1.htmlJapan Air Lines is country's 4th largest bankruptcy ever ...

There are going to retire a large part of their fleet; lose a LOT of jobs, lose a LOT of 'mass' and market share. I suppose there's not too much danger of 'cabotage' w/ them, now ...

Seppuku in the Crew Room tonight, anyone ... ???

 

[LowWingLoad]

I have heard from some friends at AA that this was a large part of JAL wanting to get out of the "One World" group because it was just flat out draining them...

Any insite from those that have BTDT longer? I am sure this goes back much farther than the three long gone airlines I can remember.

 

[yak52driver]

They are the last airline I would have expected to file. It will be interesting to see what the fallout is.

 

[A4sForever]

JAL kinda replicated UAL w/ its forays into hotels, resorts, car rentals, tour groups in the '80s, similar to UAL when Ferris (sp?) ran it ... and ran it into the ground. Both airlines wanted to be a 'one-stop-shop' ... a model that doesn't work too well when you have WHALES on one end-o of the operation and happy-hour pizza at the other ...

PLUS ... JAL's balance sheet was heavy w/ Tokyo real estate holdings, which crashed & burned in the real estate bubble of the late '80s ... my own company was an owner of several grossly overpriced postage-stamp sized pieces of dirt & building in Tokyo, but got out prior to the crash & burn. JAL's had a fiscal government 'cushion' to prevent hard landings -- defacto national flag carrier and all that -- and it's finally caught up to them.

JAL has ALWAYS had a good reputation ... some deserved, some not so much. They were sometimes a victim of believing their own shit, believing their own PR .... and their flight crews (at least their CAPTs), were treated like royalty and could do no wrong. Seriously ...

I trained some JAL crews on the WHALE -- they were good, very good -- until the shit hit the fan. Then they were less than satisfactory, unless the abnormal/emergency followed the checklist EXACTLY. In real life ... it seldom does. Much hissing & sucking in the debriefs ...

 

[PropStop]

Wow, good thing I am flying back to Japan on United!

 

[The Chief]

Word on the "Street" (cannot confirm) is that the GOJ thinks that JAL is TBTF (Too big to fail) and will yet again prop it up with bailout Yen.

 

[A4sForever]

Word on the "Street" (cannot confirm) is that the GOJ thinks that JAL is TBTF (Too big to fail) and will yet again prop it up with bailout Yen.

I agree w/ your assessment, Master Chief -- I totally believe the 'word on the Street' ... as it's too 'big' to fail ... and you KNOW what it's all about in the Far East ... i.e., F-A-C-E.

I don't think the J's can 'afford' NOT to support JAL ... just to save face, if nothin' else ...