Japan Press Weekly

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2012 June 20 - 26 TOP3 [LABOR]

JAL suffers from staff shortage and on-board mishaps

Following its massive dismissals of veteran pilots, cabin attendants, and maintenance personnel under the guise of corporate rehabilitation, Japan Airlines (JAL) is now suffering from numerous mishaps on board its flights.

In February, an in-flight service meal cart sprang free from a storage place and sped 10 meters down an aisle on an international flight. The company in April conducted an in-house campaign to eradicate mishaps and accidents during flights.

However, witnessing similar accidents several times even after the campaign, JAL is now running another campaign to train its cabin crews on how to properly operate in-flight carts and avoid accidents.

In 2010, 762 cabin attendants accepted the company’s early retirement scheme, exceeding its goal of 660 under the rehabilitation plan. JAL, however, ended up dismissing 84 additional workers in December of the same year.

From April 2011 to March 2012, 574 cabin attendants left the company. Their former colleagues who remained have to work flights to near the monthly maximum limit of 95 flight hours and are unable to take paid holidays.

Suffering from a severe labor shortage, JAL plans to hire 510 new employees in July.

Meanwhile, it achieved a record business profit for two consecutive years. On June 20, the company applied to list its shares again on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.