All Nippon Airways Co. unveiled a mid-term business plan Monday that includes a 10-percent cut in ANA group's 28,000 workforce over a four-year period.
With the plan, which begins in the current fiscal year, the nation's second-largest airline hopes to improve its financial structure and strengthen corporate management, ANA President Kichisaburo Nomura said.
The workforce reduction will be carried out through voluntary early retirement programs and restraint on new recruitment.
While restructuring its airline operations within the group, ANA also plans to transform the group into a holding company, possibly in fiscal 2000.
As a way to improve its financial health, ANA will reduce investment on new aircraft during the four-year period and reduce its interest-bearing debts by 130 billion yen to 610 billion yen by fiscal 2002.
In order to raise operational efficiency, ANA plans to establish a new low-cost carrier in fiscal 2000 that will use Kansai International Airport as a hub. ANA will also re-evaluate its current services and restructure routes.
Although ANA projects its total revenue will fall by 150 billion yen to 948.6 billion yen in fiscal 2002, it hopes to report profits by cutting 62 billion yen through streamlining efforts. In fiscal 1998, the carrier posted 963.4 billion yen in total revenue but suffered a 6.6 billion yen net loss.