AFP - One year after its spectacular bankruptcy filing, Japan Airlines on Wednesday faced a lawsuit from 146 former pilots and cabin attendants calling for their jobs back after being made redundant.
The case, filed with the Tokyo District Court, claims JAL management did not do enough to avoid the layoffs. The company's court-approved rehabilitation plan calls for cutting about 16,000 jobs.
The plaintiffs and their supporters marched to the court carrying a banner saying: "Japan Airlines must withdraw dismissals for the purposes of reorganization."
"The company has discarded people, especially those who have long ensured the safety of its flight operations," plaintiffs told local media, according to Kyodo News.
"Through court hearings, we want to question the company, which belittles operational safety and lacks concerns for the good of society."
The lawsuit is believed to be one of the largest of its kind, according to the plaintiffs' lawyer.
"I feel extremely sorry" for the people made redundant, Chairman Kazuo Inamori told a news conference. "JAL made the heartbreaking decision since it is not possible to pull back the rehabilitation plan that has been approved by creditors and the court."
He added: "It would not be positive for the company's future revival to break the promise with creditors."
The airline dismissed a total of 165 pilots and cabin attendants at the end of last year.
JAL declared bankruptcy in January 2010, owing $26 billion in one of Japan's biggest-ever corporate failures, but has continued flying while it goes through a rehabilitation process under court protection.
Since then, it has delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange and submitted to the Tokyo court its rehabilitation plan, including a debt waiver worth more than $6.3 billion and the loss of about 16,000 jobs.
The lawsuit is only the latest challenge to confront the fallen flagship carrier, as the charismatic government-appointed chairman cuts costs and presses remaining staff to reboot the company.
Inamori, the highly respected founder of technology firm Kyocera, said in interviews published Wednesday that JAL's reform was only a "fourth or fifth of the way to completion".
Despite having no experience in the aviation business he was asked by the government to help JAL's reform and once lamented the lack of business sense among the airline's executives, complaining they were unfit to run even a grocery store.
To mark the anniversary of the bankruptcy filing, Inamori visited JAL maintenance workers at Tokyo's Haneda airport and noted staff continued to work hard despite concerns for morale amid the redundancies.
He hinted at delaying JAL's plan to list its shares again on stock markets in December this year, while giving a cautious stance on whether it would join its competitor All Nippon Airways in launching a low-cost service.
"JAL intends to emphasise the quality (of its services)," Inamori said. "It will compete with its quality rather than flight fares."
In April-November 2010, JAL posted a group operating profit of 146 billion yen ($1.7 billion), according to President Masaru Onishi.
The airline also announced on Wednesday that it would revert to its old corporate "red-crown crane" logo, first adopted in 1959, to symbolise its efforts to make a fresh start.
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