JAL to reassign 3,000 employees to low-cost carrier, non-core operations as air travel struggles

Japan Airlines Co will transfer around 3,000 employees to its low-cost carrier Zipair Tokyo Inc and other non-core operations as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hit international and business travel.

Employees that would work on non-core operations will be assigned to Jalux Inc, which deals with selected merchandise sales, and its mileage program business.

In the updated version of its medium-term business strategy, the corporation agreed in May to boost its personnel in growth sectors by around 3,000 employees compared to fiscal 2019, including recruits at the low-cost carrier.

After the coronavirus spread and many nations tightened their borders, the major airline predicts that demand for its foreign services would continue at less than 50 percent of pre-pandemic levels throughout fiscal 2022.

Business travel has been impacted by the pandemic, so corporations are holding meetings online in its place.