Japan Airlines to raise 2.7 bln USD as travel demand remains low

TOKYO, Sept. 9– Japan Airlines Co. announced Thursday its plan of raising around 300 billion yen in funding to enhance its financial position as demand for travel remains low amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For the April-June period, JAL reported a net loss of 57.9 billion yen despite some increase in travel demand. The figure of overseas passengers tumbled largely…

TOKYO, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) — Japan Airlines Co. announced Thursday its plan of raising around 300 billion yen (2.7 billion U.S. dollars) in funding to enhance its financial position as demand for travel remains low amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The airline, usually known as JAL, said it is raising funds through subprime loans and bonds to avoid dilution of shares. The details about the capital raising plan will be announced on Friday.

In July, the seat occupancy rate for JAL’s international flights was 23.4 percent and that for domestic flights was 48.6 percent.

For the April-June period, JAL reported a net loss of 57.9 billion yen (526 million dollars) despite some increase in travel demand.

The company has not released its profit forecast for the current business year ending in March, explaining that it is hard to make projections amid the pandemic.

The figure of overseas passengers tumbled largely in Japan amid strict restrictions on border due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. Enditem