Hokkaido International Airlines, widely known as Air Do, has agreed to form an Asian service alliance with Northwest Airlines of the United States, Air Do officials said Tuesday.
The troubled Japanese carrier plans to market Asian package tours to customers in Hokkaido by combining its flight services with those of Northwest Airlines, they said.
The Hokkaido Prefectural Government revealed details of the planned alliance at the Hokkaido Prefectural Assembly earlier in the day.
Air Do has received 2.7 billion yen from the Hokkaido Prefectural Government, the Sapporo Municipal Government and the local business community since January in an effort to prevent it from developing a negative net value.
Amid intensifying competition, the firm is suffering due to declining passenger numbers and low profit margins.
The airline's cumulative losses totaled 6.6 billion yen at the March 31 end of fiscal 2000.
JAL dumps Swissair over future viability
Japan Airlines Co. said Tuesday it has suspended code-sharing with Swissair Group at least until the end of fiscal 2001, given the Swiss airline's financial difficulties and the questions surrounding its future services.
JAL operated code-sharing flights for Tokyo-Zurich, Osaka-Zurich, Zurich-Geneva and Zurich-Vienna routes.
The Tokyo-Zurich flight, which utilizes a JAL jetliner, will continue its service using JAL's code name, JAL said. The other flights were operated by Swissair.
Swissair recently implemented a huge reduction in its operations due to limited resources and the fact that protection from creditors does not extend fully to all destinations outside Switzerland.