Tokyo, Jan 13 (DPA) Kazuo Inamori, founder of electronics maker Kyocera Corp, said Wednesday that he had accepted a government offer to take on the role of chief executive of the troubled Japan Airlines Corp (JAL).
Inamori met Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama after holding talks with officials of the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp (ETIC), which is in charge of the airline’s rescue.
“I told them (the ETIC officials) that JAL’s restructuring is possible if the restructuring plan is implemented as (it) is,” the 77-year-old honorary chairman of Kyocera said.
The government and the ETIC had asked Inamori to serve as JAL’s CEO during its turnaround, news reports said.
The company’s current president, Haruka Nishimatsu, was expected to resign after ETIC finalises its plan for the carrier’s restructuring under Japan’s Corporate Rehabilitation Law and JAL files an expected bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, ETIC was also considering setting up a budget airline to compensate for some of the red ink that JAL’s loss-making routes are generating, the Kyodo News agency reported.
The new airline would offer discount flights to popular domestic and international tourist destinations from Kansai International Airport in Osaka and Chubu International Airport in Nagoya, the report said.
JAL’s shares plunged Wednesday to a record low of 7 yen ($0.08) as the company neared bankruptcy.
The once state-owned JAL has faced increasing business turbulence, suffering losses in four of the past five years. In the first half of the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, JAL lost 131.2 billion yen.
ETIC estimated JAL’s liabilities at 860 billion yen ($9.3 billion) in excess of its assets.
