All Nippon Airways reported a net loss of ¥25.4 billion (US$280 million) in the six months ended in September, and says it will cut 1,000 jobs. A year earlier the company made a profit of ¥25.4 billion. It now predicts a loss for the year to March 31 of ¥28 billion, compared with its previous outlook of a profit of ¥3 billion. Since that projected full-year loss is greater than the deficit for the first six months, the company implicitly expects to lose money in the second half.

Japan Airlines is throwing itself into the arms of a government restructuring agency after a group of experts recommended that the carrier could be saved if it were reorganized and given a significant capital injection. Transport Minister Seiji Maehara is not disclosing the details of a report that he has received from the group of experts, but he does say that it shows Japan Airlines, which operates 60% of all Japanese flights, can be saved if it reduces capacity and costs.

The powerful recovery in demand for Chinese air transport over the past year has fueled significantly improved financial results for the country’s three biggest airlines. The largest of these, China Southern, made a net profit of 284 million yuan (US$42 million) for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with a loss of CNY830 million a year earlier, when the industry was at or near the trough of a severe downturn.