Japan

Debt-ridden Japan Airlines Corp and the state-backed turnaround body overseeing its restructuring have sought lender approval to waive off more than 521.6 billion yen ($6 billion) that JAL owes, the Nikkei business daily reported. Of the 521.6 billion yen for which approval is being sought, the company has 383 billion yen in loans and the rest in corporate bond and derivatives, the paper said. As part of the restructuring plan, the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan has asked the Development Bank of Japan to write off 142.1 billion yen of JAL debt on its books, Nikkei reported.

Japan Airlines Corp said it will offer early retirement packages to pilots, co-pilots and trainees from Tuesday until Aug. 16, the Nikkei business daily reported. The debt-ridden group has set a goal of shedding 16,000, or one-third, of its employees in the current year ending March 2011. The first round of early retirement offers found 4,003 takers, the paper said. The group is looking to shed about 670 people from subsidiary Japan Airlines International Co, which has 1,450 pilots, 1,030 first officers and 300 trainee pilots on its payroll, the Nikkei said.

Debt-ridden Japan Airlines Corp plans to cut 1,886 contract and temporary workers, as part of the larger jobs cut announced in April, the Nikkei business daily reported. JAL, which plans to axe 16,000 jobs and stop 45 domestic and international flights, will not renew contracts of the workers, mostly in sales, maintenance and flight attendant positions, the paper said. The airline, which seeks 4,339 volunteers for early retirement across the globe, will lay off another 785 employees on airport duties, the paper said.

Japan’s ruling Democratic party on Thursday made fiscal consolidation a centrepiece of its latest election manifesto, with Naoto Kan, prime minister, signalling a possible doubling of the 5 per cent consumption tax, the Financial Times reported. The moves underscored Mr Kan's determination to make reining in state debt a top government priority, a policy stance that is winning his new DPJ administration friends among business groups.

Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc. is objecting to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s attempt to consolidate legal action against Nomura's affiliates in three countries as the two investment banks battle over more than $1 billion of claims related to derivatives contracts, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In papers filed Wednesday with the U.S.

Japan Airlines is experiencing passenger demand ahead of the conservative expectations outlined in its restructuring plan, the airline's president said on Sunday. The success of the plan does not rely on a certain level of passenger demand, but JAL is ahead of where it expected to be, Masaru Onishi told Reuters on the sidelines of the International Air Transport Association's annual meeting. Onishi added that the implementation of the restructuring plan was generally on track.

Japan Airlines Corp. said Tuesday it will postpone by two months the submission of a restructuring plan to the court as it seeks to flesh out details of the plan, Dow Jones reported. The airline, currently under court-led restructuring after filing for bankruptcy protection in January, initially intended to present the plan to the Tokyo district court by the end of June. The court has agreed to the new deadline, JAL said.

China Southern Airlines is now Asia's largest carrier by passenger numbers after overtaking troubled Japan Airlines Corp, or JAL, according to figures provided by the two companies, Agence France-Presse reported. China Southern actually overtook JAL in 2008 when its passenger volume rose to 58.24 million, according to data supplied by the Chinese carrier to AFP on Wednesday. The airline, which has China's largest fleet, extended its lead even further last year as its numbers climbed to 66.28 million passengers, China Southern said.

The operator of major eye clinic chain Kanagawa Clinic Ophthalmology Department has filed for bankruptcy proceedings after dozens of infections following laser surgery at a clinic and a warning from the government over misleading pricing, iStockAnalyst reported on a Kyodo News story. The operator, the Hakubikai foundation based in Tokyo, said Friday that the Tokyo District Court had approved bankruptcy proceedings on Thursday. The foundation said Kanagawa Clinic branches in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka will be passed on to another healthcare group.

The Bank of Japan moved to offer Y2,000bn ($21.6bn) in overnight liquidity on Friday to “increase markets’ sense of security” because of turmoil resulting from the debt crisis in Greece, the Financial Times reported. It is the bank’s first exceptional offer of overnight funds since the scare over Dubai’s sovereign debt in December 2009 and its biggest since the height of the financial crisis in December 2008. The move shows that fears about sovereign debt default in Europe are rippling across global markets, with the Bank of Japan the first central bank to react by adding liquidity.