The US carriers submitted their bids for the 4 precious Haneda slots few weeks ago. So what are their next move? Trash talk at each other LOL. They now start attacking each other and hope to swing the public opinions :P

Different media, including The Wall Street Journal, are now reporting that Japan Airlines has picked American Airlines over Delta. Mainly because of the costs and risks involved in switching alliance. And the new CEO Dr. Inamori had a friendly chat with his buddy at Washington regarding ATI approval on JAL and DL tie up. After that he has made up his mind. Supposing there will be a JAL press conference later today announcing their decision. While you guys are still cheering or mourning for the rumored alliance decision, here is something from The Wall Street Journal to read about: Agencies to Fault American on Maintenance. After reading this, I can't help but question whether JAL has picked the right US partner.

Either Japanese media have nothing to write on other than stirring up the Japan Airlines bidding war or JAL keeps flip-flopping, every other week we see reports saying JAL has picked Delta or American Airlines. This time the rumor said JAL has picked AA as their US partner. So is this true? Only the writer/reporter and JAL executives know.

According to Nikkei.com, Delta might not be the sure winner in Japan Airlines' bidding war. Nikkei says JAL's new CEO Dr. Inamori "appears loathe to dump ally American". That's all I can read for free LOL. WSJ, Bloomberg, etc probably will pick up this new rumor later. I will just read more by then :)

Kazuo Inamori held his inaugural press conference today at Tokyo. He talked about how he is going to rebuild Japan Airlines and of course the one question that concerns most people-whether JAL will choose AA or DL (sorry you will be disappointed by his answer to this question).

Once again, there's a rumor floating around that Japan Airlines has made up its mind on the alliance issue. This time the rumor is from The Manichi Daily News. According to the report JAL will announce the new partner on Inamori's first day of work on Monday.

Nikkei.com reports today that the US Department of Transportation (DOT) has informed japanese Civil Aviation Bureau that there is no guarantee that they will approve Japan Airlines' antitrust immunity. DOT has to completely review JAL's application before making any decision.

During the American Airlines quarterly earning conference call, AA CEO Gerard Arpey said they will "object vigorously" for any kind of cooperation between Japan Airlines and Delta. He also warned JAL that it would be unwise for them to switch to Delta as their US partner! To me, it sounds like someone is desperate :P

Air France-KLM confirms report from Dutch daily De Telegraaf that they are in talks with Japan Airlines and Delta!

Spokespersons from Japan Airlines, Delta and American Airlines all respond to the Yomiuri's report saying JAL and Delta has reached a basic agreement over business tie-up. They all denied the rumor according to Bloomberg.

“We haven’t reached a decision,” Sze Hunn Yap, the JAL’s spokeswoman

“We continue to be in discussions with JAL,” Betsy Talton, a Delta spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

“We have no reason to believe this unsubstantiated and speculative report,” Charley Wilson, a spokesman for the AMR unit.

According to 47 News (in Japanese), Japan Airlines will switch to the Skyteam by April 2011. The highlights from the article are:

1. JAL will file for bankruptcy.
2. JAL will get delisted
3. JAL will join the Skyteam by April 2011
4. JAL and Delta will file for ATI
5. JAL will focus on HND and starts with LAX-HND service in fiscal year 2011 :)

As long as JAL keeps LAX and HKG services (whether they are to NRT or HND), I will still be JALPak :) That's the only good news/rumor that cheers me up in the past week!

According to Nikkei, ETIC has decided a capital tie-up with either AA or Delta wouldn't do any good to Japan Airlines during the restructuring process. Therefore, JAL isn't picking for an alliance based on who's paying for more money (sorry AA), but who's providing more business synergy to JAL.

The Wall Street Journal reports that American Airlines has raised its offer to Japan Airlines by USD300 million to USD1.4 billion! But JAL declines to comment whether that's true. Looks like AA is trying really hard to save the JAL relationship. Delta's CEO hinted they could raised the offer through partnership with a third party resources. So apparently the war is not over yet :)

Business Week reports that Business Travel Coalition, a global travel group representing 17 global corporations based in Brussels, opposes Japan Airlines-Delta tie-up. Reasons? Too much pricing power and decreased in competitions. They have sent a letter to the Transport Minister of Japan stating their views.

Looks like AA won't be the only one opposing JAL and Delta's ATI application if JAL switches alliance to the Skyteam. If JAL's ATI application doesn't get approved, the Japan-US open sky deal will most likely be off the table. If that's the case, who will be the biggest loser?

All those people thought Delta has won the Japan Airlines bidding war based on Yomiuri Shimbun's report, which does not even cite its source, NO JAL has not make the decision yet. Or should I say they havne't made their decision publicly yet.

Japan Airlines CEO Haruka Nishimatsu did an interview with the Asahi on New Year, which is published today. In the interview, he states that he is against the idea of JAL filing for bankruptcy and dropping the entire JAL international network, and prefers Delta as JAL's overseas partner.

Ashai News (in Japanese) reports that Japan Airlines is likely to choose Delta over American Airlines as its overseas partner. But Asahi does not cite its sources and JAL "strongly denied" the report. Reuters has a brief translation of the article.

Delta President Edward Bastian told reports in Tokyo today that they are willing to raise their offer if requested by the Japanese government according to Reuters.

Delta and other Skyteam members have officially made a bidding on Japan Airlines yesterday. They made a preliminary offer of $1.02 billion. On the other hand AA and TPG were rumored to offer $1.46 billion of investment for JAL.

American Airlines IS fighting for Japan Airlines too. They are not going to just throw in the white towel and let Delta and Air France steal JAL from them. AA is proposing a business joint venture and seek anti-trust immunity with JAL so they will be able to work closer together to maximize their profits.