TOKYO —
Japan Airlines Corp, now undergoing a state-backed rehabilitation process, has decided to cancel training for 130 would-be pilots as it plans to freeze its in-house pilot training program for the next five to seven years, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The airline plans to ask the 130 who are in the early stages of training to work as ground staff or solicit early retirement under special benefits, the sources said. JAL has also decided to close its pilot training facility in California in the United States by the end of this fiscal year through March, they said.
JAL has already suspended most of its pilot training since April because it is expected that the airline will have a surplus of pilots as it downsizes domestic and international routes.
The airline, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, is promoting rehabilitation under the supervision of the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan.
Under the in-house pilot training program, JAL recruits university graduates as pilot trainees and sends them to the U.S. training facility to obtain a commercial pilot license.
The trainees then return to Japan for further training to become co-pilots. It costs several hundred million yen for the airline to train a pilot.
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