Japan Airlines Corp. said Monday that Isao Kaneko will resign as both chairman and board member at the end of this month and become an adviser to the company.

Although JAL officials declined to link Kaneko's resignation to a spate of safety-related incidents involving the nation's largest carrier, the move is widely seen as Kaneko taking the blame for the manifold problems at JAL.

JAL officials said the post of chairman will remain vacant for the time being.

The safety problems that began in January include a JAL plane trying to take off without clearance from the control tower in Hokkaido, a jetliner getting into the wrong runway in Seoul, and a plane flying from Tokyo to Hokkaido with an inactive escape chute.

In response, the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry issued JAL with an operational improvement order in mid-March and subjected JAL to special safety inspections through the end of the year.

Following the order, Kaneko resigned as chief executive officer and gave up the firm's representation right at the end of March to hand over the position to Toshiyuki Shinmachi.

"Since (the transition from the old management) to the new management under Shinmachi has taken place smoothly," Kaneko thought it would be the best time to resign, Senior Managing Director Hidekazu Nishizuka told a news conference.

Sustaining a fractured ankle was also a factor in Kaneko's decision to resign at this time, Nishizuka added.

Kaneko became the president of Japan Airlines Co. in 1998, and then became the president and chief executive officer of the holding company that was created when Japan Airlines and Japan Air System integrated their operations in October 2002.

JAL also announced Monday that it returned to the black for the first time in two years in fiscal 2004, thanks to a recovery in the number of international passengers since fiscal 2003, when figures plunged due to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome and the war in Iraq.

JAL reported a group net profit of 30 billion yen for the year that ended March 31, compared with a 88.6 billion yen loss the previous year.

Sales grew 10 percent from a year earlier to 2.13 trillion yen while its operating profit totaled 56.1 billion yen, a drastic increase from the previous year's 67.6 billion yen loss.

Although JAL forecasts an increase in revenues, company officials said the carrier expects a 44 percent decline in its net profit for the current fiscal year mainly due to rising fuel prices -- a major threat to the industry.

A surge in oil prices has cost the carrier 44.1 billion yen more than the previous year, contributing toward a total cost of 289 billion yen. JAL officials said the cost of fuel is expected to rise even further to 340 billion yen for the current fiscal year. JAL said it will continue to streamline its operations to maintain profitability.

In fiscal 2004, recovery in revenues from international operations and one-time income from a review of JAL's retirement benefit system more than offset the negative impact of the high fuel prices, according to JAL.

Backed by strong demand for flights to Southeast Asian nations and China, the number of international passengers jumped 25.5 percent to 14.7 million.

For the current fiscal year, JAL forecasts a net profit of 17 billion yen, an operating profit of 60 billion yen and sales of 2.21 trillion yen.