Tokyo: Delta Air Lines and American Airlines will not be invited to invest in Japan Airlines (JAL) until after a new management has been put in place, if ever, a person familiar with the matter said.
The government has sounded out Kazuo Inamori, the 77-year-old honorary chairman of electronics components maker Kyocera Corp, about becoming JAL's new CEO and overseeing its restructuring, the person also said.
Delta and American have been courting Japan Airlines with rival offers of financial aid, eager to gain access to its routes to fast-growing Asian markets and a stronger foothold in Japan ahead of the expansion of Tokyo's Haneda airport in October.
But these talks have been overshadowed by the issue of JAL's very survival. The airline, Asia's largest by revenue, will likely file for bankruptcy this month as part of a state-led restructuring, sources have told Reuters.
The state-backed turnaround fund in-charge of deciding whether Jal should be propped up with public money believes that any decision on its overseas partner should be made in coordination with new management, the person said.
Complicated
An investment from Delta or American could also complicate JAL's restructuring and make it more difficult for the fund, called the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan (ETIC), to exit its investment as planned within three years.
The person was not authorised to speak publicly about the matter. The ETIC declined to comment.
American Airlines said last week it was considering sweetening its $1.1 billion (Dh4 billion) investment proposal, which is backed by private equity firm TPG.
