UPDATE: Delta Air, SkyTeam Offering $1.02 Billion Financing To
JAL
(Adds comments by Delta President at briefing in Tokyo, drop in JAL shares)
By Doug Cameron and Yoshio Takahashi
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CHICAGO -(Dow Jones)- Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) and its SkyTeam alliance
partners said that they would provide a $1.02 billion funding package to ailing
carrier Japan Airlines Corp. (9205.TO) in their first public effort to wrestle
JAL from the rival Oneworld alliance.
The proposal by Delta and SkyTeam includes a $500 million equity injection
from SkyTeam, a $300 million revenue guarantee from Delta and a further $200
million in asset-backed funding, as well as $20 million or more in transition
costs for the switch.
The Delta proposal would challenge a plan that AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American
Airlines, a member of the Oneworld alliance, is working on. American has teamed
up with private equity firm TPG to develop an alternative funding plan for JAL.
Other members of Oneworld include British Airways Plc (BAY.LN) and Qantas
Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU).
The new package didn't help dispel investors' worries about JAL's fate.
On the Tokyo stock exchange, JAL shares ended down 3.9% at Y98, after setting
a fresh all-time low of Y94 in the morning session, following reports that
Japan's transport minister has not ruled out the possibility of JAL's legal
liquidation.
Delta President Edward Bastian said at a briefing in Tokyo that he believes
that the bigger economies of scale provided by SkyTeam would bring greater
benefits to the struggling Japanese carrier.
"It's clear that SkyTeam is by far the strongest partner for Japan Airlines
and the best ally to ensure JAL's growth and stability in the decades to come,"
he said.
Bastian said that Delta carries 3.7 million customers a year from the U.S. to
Japan, more than five times the 700,000 customers that American Airlines does.
In addition, he said SkyTeam, whose members include Air France-KLM (AF.FR) and
Alitalia, serves 1.3 million customers a year from Europe to Japan, triple the
430,000 carried by Oneworld.
The president expects JAL's annual revenue would grow by $400 million if the
Japanese carrier joins SkyTeam.
This means the benefit that JAL would get from SkyTeam would nearly double the
$500 million in annual revenue that American Airlines and TPG believes Oneworld
brings in for JAL.
American and Delta started talks with JAL earlier this year on partnerships,
and initial discussions focused on whether the U.S. carriers would inject as
much as $500 million into the Japanese airline.
JAL has sought aid from the Japanese government even as it cut routes and jobs
while struggling with an inefficient network and the burden of its debt load and
pension deficit.
Even so, both U.S. carriers view JAL as a valuable prize with access to
congested Tokyo airports and other connection points in Asia. Star, a third
global airline alliance, is already allied with All Nippon Airways Inc.
JAL's links with Oneworld partners include extensive code sharing with
American, notably through its Chicago hub.
A shift to Delta and SkyTeam may create some short-term disruption to traffic
flows.
But Bastian shrugged off such concerns, as it won't take as long as the two
years estimated by American and TPG for JAL to move to SkyTeam and the
transition costs would be covered by Delta.
"We believe the transition can be completed within one year or less," Bastian
said at the briefing.
JAL already has links with six of the SkyTeam members, including code-sharing
deals with Air France-KLM and Korean Air Co., he said.
The pursuit of JAL is also tied to ongoing talks between the U.S. and Japan to
liberalize their restrictive aviation agreement. Negotiations are due to resume
next month, with both sides aiming for an open-skies deal that would lift
restrictions on the number of carriers and flights operated between the
countries.
Such a deal could then open the way for JAL and its U.S. partner to seek
antitrust immunity to deepen co-operation and coordinate schedules, fares and
marketing.
-By Doug Cameron and Yoshio Takahashi, Dow Jones Newswires; (312) 750 4135;
doug.cameron@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-18-090630ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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