Japan Airlines Corp. will sell a 49.4 percent stake in its credit card unit to Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., the company announced Friday.
The airline will book a ¥42 billion gain from the sale, it said in a statement.
The transaction is part of JAL's plan to cut debt and raise money for new planes by reducing labor costs and selling stakes in units peripheral to its main aviation business. The carrier sold ¥151.5 billion of preferred shares to financial institutions in March to raise funds.
JAL's credit card unit, JALCard, has about 2 million cardholders who spend an average of ¥870,000 each a year. That makes it attractive to Mitsubishi UFJ, Japan's largest bank by market value, which faces growing competition from Citigroup Inc. and HSBC Holdings PLC.
JAL said in a separate statement Friday that it has raised its projection for group operating profit to ¥90 billion for the year ended March 31, compared with an earlier estimate of ¥48 billion, thanks to a growing demand for international flights.