American Airlines Seriously Considering Turning Japanese

September 15, 2009 at 5:48 PM | by Omri | Comments (0)

The recession has been particularly cruel to Japan Airlines. Since expensive intercontinental travel is exactly the kind of thing thing that corporations are trying to replace with teleconferencing, JAL is particularly vulnerable to dips in demand. The result has been a $1 billion loss in the last quarter.

The financial hardship has opened JAP up for partial acquisition, and reports have it that both American Airlines and Delta are interested in getting their piece. The stakes are pretty high and include JAL's presence at Tokyo's Haneda Airport, one of the few alternatives to Tokyo's "thank you for landing, please enjoy your upcoming four hours in traffic" Narita International:

American Airlines parent AMR Corp. is negotiating for closer ties and possibly an investment in financially troubled Japan Airlines Corp... Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest airline operator, also is in preliminary discussions about buying a stake in JAL for about $300 million.

Our deep-seated cynicism about American Airlines aside, this move makes more than a little bit of sense. AA and JAL already have a code-sharing agreement, so AA would both be helping a partner and maintaining their own travel ecosystem.

The only downside is that American might be breaking a whole lot of antitrust laws by colluding with JAL. They'd be cooperating on setting prices and schedules and they'd be doing it on major business routes like Chicago-to-Tokyo. Those are exactly the kinds of things that regulators tend to frown on. Pesky frowning regulators.

[Photo: bribriTO]

Related Stories:
· AP Source: American Airlines talking with JAL [AP]
· American Airlines Coverage [Jaunted]
· Japan Airlines [Jaunted]

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