Japan Airlines and the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation of Japan – the Japanese government-appointed panel charged with charting the airline’s future course – has decided to ditch the Oneworld alliance for SkyTeam, according to a Dow Jones story Monday citing a Japanese newspaper report.
JAL denied making any alliance decision, saying it is still negotiating with American and Delta, Dow reported.
Without citing where it obtained the information, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said the airline will join the Delta and the SkyTeam alliance and is now working to terminate negotiations with American Airlines, Dow Jones said.
A tie-up with Delta will likely help JAL in its revival efforts, the paper said. While Delta's market share of transpacific routes linking Japan and North America stands at 32%, that of American Airlines amounts to 8%.
A tie-up with Delta will enable JAL, whose market share in these routes stands at 22%, to slash its own services and boost codesharing services with Delta, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun report.