During a speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan this week, Japan Airlines (JAL) CEO Dr. Inamori gave a little bit of update on JAL's restructuring progress. Apparently JAL is likely to secured a record operating profit of 100 billion yen in the first half of the fiscal year (April-Sep)! They originally forecast an operating profit of 64.1 billion yen for the entire fiscal year ending in March!

Yesterday I blogged about how local governments are stilling campaigning against Japan Airlines' (JAL) plan of route suspensions. Nikkei reports are bit more details of yesterday's meeting and JAL's current restructuring plan. Nikkei's report titled 'JAL's Rehab Could Be Delayed By Local Govt Opposition" says JAL has scrapped its extended route suspensions plan and the current plan is much closer to its original one.

Japan Transport Minister Maehara spoke at the House of Representatives today. He mentioned that Japan Airlines (JAL) might delay its restructuring plan court filing.

After disappearing from the media for a while, Japan Airlines' new CEO Dr. Inamori speaks up once again. During his first interview as JAL CEO, he said he refuses to cut more jobs or routes!

It has been almost two months since Japan Airlines filing for bankruptcy protection. The new JAL CEO Kazuo Inamori and COO Masaru Onishi held a joint press conference in Tokyo today to update the press of their restructuring plan. They answered the question in a lot of people's mind including when will JAL become profitable again, when will JAL start cutting the routes, etc. And Inamori made some pretty harsh comments on JAL staff too :(

According to Nikkei, Japan Airlines CEO Kazuo Inamori has become the part-time special advisor to the Cabinet on Thursday. Yes, another part-time job for 78 year old who are focusing to turnaround JAL!

Japan Airlines CEO Kazuo Inamori told reports in Kyodo that JAL will accelerate its efforts to improve profitability because they are bleeding cash every day.

Japan Airlines' new CEO Kazuo Inamori once again went for a little field trip. This time he visited JAL's safety promotion center near Haneda, which is a requirement for most JAL staff.

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 :)

In an attempt to boost employees' morale, Dr. Inamori has decided to visit a couple of Japan Airlines' sites. So first stop, Haneda maintenance center. According to Nikkei.com, Inamori and Onishi visited the Haneda facility on their second day of work as JAL's new CEO and COO respectively.

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).

It's February 1 in Tokyo right now, which means it's the first day of work for Dr. Inamori as CEO of Japan Airlines and Onishi as COO. According to Nikkei.com, Inamori and Onishi will hold an afternoon meeting with all department heads to talk about their vision for JAL. Afterwards they will hold a press conference about JAL's reconstruction policies (does it mean route cuts will finally be announced?). However, Nikkei also reports the plan is to make the alliance decision by end of February. So the bidding war isn't over yet and there still a month to go. But why is it taking so long? Come on, make up your mind now and apply for ATI ASAP! You are already a month behind ANA's ATI application :(

Even Dr. Kazuo Inamori isn't going to officially join Japan Airlines until February 1 2010, he is already bringing business to JAL :) According to the Financial Times, the chairman of Kyocera, Makoto Kawamura, has encouraged his staff on Thursday morning to fly on JAL as a moral support for their honorary chairman! And the company said this is just a "request" and is "not binding". But we all know how Japanese do their business :) If not, just read the FT article to find out what Japanese companies do during the downtime. Let's see how many moral support from different companies Inamori can get :P

Finally Dr. Kazuo Inamori speaks to the press after a meeting with the ETIC regarding the rumor about he is going to take over Haruka Nishimatsu's job as the next Japan Airlines CEO. According to Nikkei, Inamori said he feels good about the idea but the official announcement/decision will be made after the ETIC officially make the offer. So it's just a matter of time :)