Japan Airlines has signed an agreement with the state-owned Development Bank of Japan to get a pool of about 100 billion yen in emergency bridge loans to continue operations.
The carrier is currently seeking support from a government-led body but needs the financing to avoid a cash shortage until that entity wraps up its work on a broader financial package in January.
In a Nov. 24 statement Japan Airlines said that “the loan agreement regarding funds necessary for continuance of our flight operations was duly executed by and between Development Bank of Japan and us.”
The infusion comes as Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines stepped up its efforts to forge a trans-Pacific partnership with JAL.
Delta CEO Richard Anderson said this week that a SkyTeam alliance would be willing to invest more than its proposed $1.02 billion into Japan Airlines, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Delta and its SkyTeam partners want the Japanese carrier to abandon its Oneworld alliance. Oneworld member American Airlines has also said it would inject money into JAL.
Delta has said it will inject $500 million into JAL from SkyTeam in addition to a $300 million revenue guarantee, $200 million in asset-backed funding and $20 million or more in transition costs if JAL switches to SkyTeam, the report said.
The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp., the government-led turnaround body, is expected to complete its work in January.
But Delta’s Anderson signaled his group could step in and help JAL before that time. "We are ready, willing and able to participate at the right time," the Wall Street Journal report said.