Japan Airlines expects group loss of $410 mln

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

TOKYO, Feb. 6 (Chinese media) -- The Japan Airlines Corp. (JAL) said Friday it anticipates a group operating loss of 37 billion yen (410 million U.S. dollars) for the current business year through March, its first loss in three years.

The company attributed the projected loss to a decline in business travelers and international cargo amid the global economic slump.

It compares with the earlier forecast in November of 28 billion yen in profit and a year-earlier profit of 90.01 billion yen.

For the April-December period of fiscal 2008, Japan's top airline said it logged a group operating loss of 8.86 billion yen from a year-earlier profit of 82.58 billion yen.

Both JAL and All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA) say they will significantly scale down their international and domestic flights in the year that begins in April. JAL has been expanding cuts in executive pay to up to 55 percent from last year while ANA is also eyeing wage cuts averaging about 6 percent in fiscal 2009. (1 U.S. dollar is equivalent to 90 yen)