Asia's biggest flagship carrier, which recently filed for bankruptcy teetering under mounting debt, crippling losses, and falling market share, now seeks to return to normalcy, banking heavily on the government bailout.

On January 19, 2010, Japan Air- lines Ltd. (JAL) filed for one of the country's biggest bankruptcies and the largest outside the financial sector. Strangely, this was not for the first time that the beleaguered carrier was seeking government bailout. In fact, in the past 10 years or so, JAL had been bailed out by the government thrice. However, this time around, things are worse as the world economy reels under its worst ever crisis in decades while JAL grapples with mounting debt of about $25 bn, owing to years of mismanagement which had led to one of the largest corporate failures in the world. With this staggering level of debt, JAL has become the sixth largest bankruptcy case in Japan's history. The carrier will still hope to keep flying with the support from the state-led bailout.

Nonetheless, the country's largest carrier is looking to recuperate itself through a combination of operational cuts and taking some hard decisions on foreign capital and alliances. The government-approved bailout plan which aims to inject 600 bn yen in financial assistance to the carrier also includes more than 15,000 job cuts, slash in retired employees' pensions and induction of more fuel-efficient aircrafts. The carrier will be restructured under the control of Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan.

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