Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism announced Tuesday that ailing Japan Airlines Corp., the nation's top carrier, can turn itself around despite share prices plummeting in recent weeks, Xinhua reported. "I still believe JAL can definitely rebuild itself if it carries out drastic restructuring, reviews its routes, replaces aging aircraft, and resolves the pension issue," Maehara said in a statement to the press on Tuesday.

Struggling carrier Japan Airlines Corp plans to propose cutting pension payments to its employees and retirees by an average of roughly 40 percent, a Japanese newspaper said on Saturday, Reuters reported. JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu will present the proposal at a meeting with retirees in Tokyo on Monday, the Mainichi Shimbun said without citing any sources. Whether the company will gain the support of at least two-thirds of its former employees needed to carry out such cuts to pension payments is unclear, Mainichi added.

Japan's transport minister said Friday that he hasn't heard from AMR Corp.'s American Airlines on the airline's intention to provide financial support to struggling carrier Japan Airlines Corp., Dow Jones reported. "No, we haven't (heard from American Airlines) ... There is no change in our policy to support JAL while (the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp.) is implementing assessment of JAL's assets," Seiji Maehara, Japan's Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, said at a regular press conference. JAL has been talking to both American and Delta Air Lines Inc.

Shares in Japan Airlines slid to a record low after the transport minister rattled investors by saying bankruptcy was still a possibility, even as U.S. carriers lined up with offers of financial support, Reuters reported. Delta Air Lines said it and partners in the SkyTeam alliance were ready to offer $1 billion, including a $500 million equity investment, in return for JAL defecting from the Oneworld alliance and its partnership with American Airlines. The offer follows news last week that private equity firm TPG was considering partnering with American Airlines on an investment in JAL.

A government task force working on a revival plan for Japan Airlines Corp is considering using a debt restructuring mediation scheme to help ease the airline's financing woes, two sources familiar with the matter said, Forbes reported. The task force is considering a scheme recently introduced in Japan called 'Alternative Dispute Resolution' under which a third party would mediate between JAL and its creditors, allowing for the temporary suspension of loan payments.

Japan set the stage for a huge bailout of Japan Airlines on Thursday, telling the struggling carrier to turn to a state-backed body for assistance, a move that ruled out a tougher stance by a new left-leaning government in Tokyo against the country’s powerful corporations, The New York Times reported. The government said JAL, Japan’s largest carrier by revenue, had been instructed to apply for funds from a state-backed turnaround body, after a special task force said saving the airline was “definitely possible” but would require a “substantial” injection of public money.

The Japanese government is aiming to come up with a blueprint for bailing out Japan Airlines Corp as early as this week, but several hurdles stand in the way of a final solution to the carrier's many problems. In a special report, Reuters considers questions and answers about JAL's troubles and how the government may go about injecting public funds. JAL is Asia's largest airline by revenue. Read more.

The Japanese government plans to put a state-backed turnaround body in charge of the overhaul of Japan Airlines, the Nikkei business daily said, underlining the government's deeper involvement in the process. Liabilities at JAL would exceed its assets by as much as $8.8 billion if it were liquidated, a source close to the matter has said, indicating the depth of the problem facing the airline as it seeks aid from banks and the state to avoid bankruptcy.

Liabilities at Japan Airlines Corp would exceed its assets by as much as $8.8 billion if Asia's largest airline by revenues were liquidated, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Friday, Reuters reported. The estimate of JAL's negative net worth, calculated by a government-led task force in charge of its restructuring, underscores the depth of the problems facing the airline as it seeks aid from banks and the state to avoid bankruptcy.

Russia's AvtoVAZ could face bankruptcy if it is unable to reach a debt restructuring deal with its banks, despite support from its 25 percent stakeholder Renault, Reuters reported. Speaking during a presentation at AvtoVAZ headquarters in Togliatti, a company official said the future of the Lada-maker remained on the line and said the company has 22,000 extra staff on its payroll that are not anticipated to have any work before 2012.