Japan Airlines Co. is preparing to seek a credit rating that will enable it to sell corporate bonds for the first time since the nation's second-largest carrier relisted, widening its financing options.
"We've just started preparations," Norikazu Saito, head of finance, said in an interview Thursday in Tokyo, declining to say when the company would seek a credit rating. "The more financing options we have the more flexibility it gives us."
Japan Airlines ordered Airbus SAS planes valued at $9.5 billion at list prices last year as the carrier plans to renew its long-haul fleet and is adding Boeing Co. 787 aircraft to replace its midsize jets. The airline, which cut staff, flights and debts under bankruptcy protection, will consider raising the dividend ratio from the current 20 percent of net income as its balance sheet improves, Saito said.