Japan Airlines will retire all its Boeing 747-400s and Airbus A300-600s by the end of March 2011 under an accelerated restructuring plan aimed at achieving cost cuts that it previously hoped to achieve over three years. As a result of the cuts, the bankrupt airline will offer 40% less capacity internationally and 30% less domestically than in the year to March 2009. Fifteen international and 30 domestic routes will be dropped. When adding the routes cut last financial year, the reductions total 28 and 50, respectively.

The government of Hebei province surrounding Beijing is making a bid to head off plans to build a second airport at the capital, saying it will upgrade its own nearby airport to take on the role. Hebei also proposes new airports at Qinhuangdao (Shanhaiguan), Zhangjiakou and Chengde and expansion at Handan under a program budgeted at 2 billion yuan ($300 million).

China Eastern is moving strongly into the territory of rival Air China by setting up a branch airline in Chengdu that it plans to equip with 30 aircraft by 2015. Routes to Southeast Asia, an express service to Shanghai and new direct flights to China’s well-developed cities feature in China Eastern’s Chengdu plans, which will exploit the expansion of the city’s Shuangliu Airport.