Battered by the global financial crisis and the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, Japan Airlines Corp. on Friday posted a hefty group net loss of ¥131.2 billion for the April-September half and said it has applied for out-of-court debt restructuring as a stopgap measure to stay aloft.
It represents JAL's worst first-half loss since it merged with Japan Air System in 2002. JAL also said sales for the half fell 28.8 percent to ¥763.9 billion compared with a year ago.
Sales from domestic flights suffered a 12 percent drop, but the faltering airline struggled even harder on international routes, logging sales of only ¥225.4 billion, down 42.8 percent. The carrier refrained from issuing a forecast for the full year.