Japan may offer emergency loans to Japan Airlines Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co., the country's biggest carriers, for the first time in five years as they forecast losses amid a drop in passengers.
The government may arrange for the Development Bank of Japan to offer an undecided amount of low-interest loans to domestic carriers for new planes as part of aid to be unveiled by March 31, Yasuhiro Shinohara, an aviation division director at the transport ministry, said in an interview Wednesday.
Japan Air, with more than 66 aircraft on order, is cutting staff at its largest unit by 13 percent and offering cabin attendants unpaid leave after suffering the biggest drop in international passengers in December in more than five years. The government in December said it will provide¥3 trillion in financial aid to Japanese companies as part of a package to lift the economy out of recession.