Japan Airlines turns to govt for 'huge' bailout

TOKYO, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Japan Airlines Corp (9205.T) said it would apply for assistance from a state-backed corporate turnaround body, setting the stage for a large injection of public funds into the troubled airline.

The government has been scrambling to secure financing and map out a restructuring plan for JAL, which is headed for its fourth annual loss in five years, weighed down by $15 billion in debt and crippling pension and other costs. [ID:nT315449] [ID:nT367188]

JAL, Asia's largest airline by revenue, said it had started preliminary talks with the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp, a body of turnaround specialists established this month to buy the debt of and invest in struggling but viable firms.

"JAL will need huge money, huge public money, through both capital and loans," Shinjiro Takagi, the head of a government-led task force that has been crafting JAL's revival plan, told a news conference. "JAL has three main problems: it has too many big planes, too many routes and a bloated structure," said deputy head Kazuhiko Toyama.

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