The airline has had trouble making money on flights departing from regional airports, including Sendai, Niigata, Hiroshima and Sapporo, said Gilbert Kimura, Japan Airlines' director of passenger and cargo sales in Hawai'i. Major routes from Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka would likely be maintained.

Kimura did not say immediately if any decrease in flights from smaller cities would be made up by increases in flights from larger airports.

Last week Japan Airlines said it would add one more Honolulu flight per day out of both Tokyo and Osaka for the summer season. Beginning next month Japan Airlines will increase Osaka flights from seven to 14 per week, and increase Tokyo flight flights from 14 to 21, which is seven fewer than normal for the summer season. JAL officials hope to increase Tokyo flights again in August.

Kimura said the routes from smaller cities have lost money and the airline needs to concentrate on routes that have more potential. It's a "lean and mean" strategy, he said.

"Airlines have really lost money because of the war, SARS and all the economy," Kimura said. "JAL like every other carrier has lost a lot of money."

Japan Airlines currently operates about 70 flights to Hawai'i each week. That includes two flights a week from Hiroshima, four flights a week from Sendai, two a week from Niigata and six flights a week from Sapporo.

"Some of the smaller regional airports, I don't think we're able to make it profitable for airlines to fly international," Kimura said.

Ryokichi Tamaki, vice president of Japanese tour wholesaler Jalpak International Hawai'i Inc., a JAL group affiliate, said the possibility of the flight cuts was a big surprise.

"We're pretty shocked," Tamaki said. Japanese from those smaller cities come to Hawai'i to warm up during winter in Japan, but if the flights are cut, it could mean fewer customers coming to Hawai'i.

Japanese travel companies anticipate a recovery in demand for travel to Hawai'i, but the flight reductions would mean "from October we are having another squeeze," Tamaki said.

Now that Japan Airlines has merged with Japan Air Systems, a major domestic carrier, it is also considering a hub system like that used by major U.S. airlines. Tokyo and Osaka would likely be hubs, Kimura said. That may mean more domestic flights and connections through the hub airports.

The airline is also considering retiring older planes, including DC-10s that fly to Hawai'i, and purchasing newer planes such as 767s, which are more fuel efficient and more profitable to operate.