JAL sees light at the end of the tunnel

JAPAN Airlines (JAL) looks to be pulling itself out of an early grave, with a little help.Following news that the Japanese government has agreed to offer JAL a ¥700 billion (US$7.8 billion) loan comes an offer from American Airlines to give JAL $1.1 billion to keep it within the Oneworld alliance. This trumps Delta’s previous $1 billion offer to try and tempt JAL over to SkyTeam.Despite JAL losing $1.5 billion in the first half of the financial year the US airlines obviously consider the lucrative trans-Pacific routes that come with JAL to be worth it.“It would be logical for a US-based major airline to take an interest in JAL in order to bolster global reach and to reduce costs,” said Richard Hastings, a consumer strategist at Global Hunter Securities. “So the government must stabilise JAL at a time when its attractiveness overseas could be interesting.”