JAL chairman quits job over rash of safety lapses

By Mari Yamaguchi
Associated Press

TOKYO — Japan Airlines Corp.'s chairman will resign to take responsibility for a string of safety lapses, the carrier said yesterday, and announced that it swung to a profit for the fiscal year as a recovery in international tourism offset a decline in domestic air travel.

The news that Isao Kaneko will resign May 31 came a day after a drop in cabin pressure forced a JAL flight from New York to Tokyo with 355 people aboard to make an emergency landing. There were no injuries.

The flagship carrier has been under mounting pressure amid a series of embarrassing safety lapses that drew widespread attention in January, when a JAL pilot in northern Japan attempted to take off without receiving approval from air traffic controllers.

JAL spokesman Teiji Murayama said Kaneko's offer to resign was accepted early yesterday.

The company — formed by the October 2002 merger of Japan Airlines Co. and Japan Air System Co. — said net profit for fiscal 2004 totaled $286.66 million, a turnaround from its loss of $838.72 million a year earlier.

JAL said its group revenue rose 10 percent from the previous year to $29.29 billion. It is forecasting a $161.90 million profit on $21.04 billion revenue for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006.

The airline said the results reflect a recovery in international air traffic demand. The number of people flying on JAL's international flights increased 25.5 percent in fiscal 2004 from the previous year, when the industry was hit by a drop in demand because of SARS and the Iraq war.

But the company is still facing safety problems. Japan's Transport Ministry issued a highly unusual public warning to the company earlier this year over a series of errors.

The Japan Airlines jet headed to Tokyo from New York on Sunday landed in northern Japan about an hour after the drop in cabin pressure, officials said.

The pilot guided the Boeing 747 from an altitude of 33,000 feet to 9,900 feet about 10 minutes after the loss of pressure triggered the release of oxygen masks.

The flight, the second leg of a journey that began in Brazil, landed at Shin Chitose Airport in Sapporo city on the northernmost main island of Hokkaido.

Also Sunday, another JAL flight carrying 85 passengers bound for Manila was rerouted to an airport near the western city of Osaka when its altimeter malfunctioned shortly after takeoff from the central city of Nagoya, the officials said. There were no injuries.

The altimeter was fixed two hours later, and the plane continued on to the Philippines.