Japan Airlines Corp. began provisionally suspending some of its pilot training programs earlier this month to cut expenses and counter the economic slowdown's impact on profitability, JAL officials said Saturday.
The programs in question include those in which trainees accompany other pilots aboard actual commercial flights to become familiar with regular air routes, those for gaining promotion to chief or deputy chief pilots, and those for becoming familiar with new aircraft models, they said.
A JAL official said the suspensions, which will last until the end of March, "are provisional steps to improve our profitability, so we will continue to provide the training necessary to enable pilots to maintain their maneuvering skills and pertaining to the safety of our flights."
"We will restart all types of the training program in April," the official said.
It is the first time JAL has halted pilot training programs to cut expenses. It is first major Japanese airline to do so, according to people in the Japanese civil aviation industry.
The transport ministry has accepted the step because it is not illegal, but some JAL pilots have criticized it as a move that could undermine safety.
"Providing only minimum levels of training is not appropriate to ensure the safety of flights," a JAL pilot said.
"If training is suspended, it will place greater burdens on us when it is resumed," said another pilot.
The JAL officials said the suspensions are designed to curb accommodation and transportation costs for pilots and trainers. They did not reveal how much the airline expects to save from the training curtailments.
But JAL has not suspended the 10 hours or so of flight simulator training needed each year to maintain its pilots' maneuvering skills, the officials said.