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Friday, 15th January 2010
In Business In Japan,

Japan Airlines decision date set

The Japanese government has announced that its biggest carrier, Japan Airlines, will be restructured on January 19th.

Asia's biggest carrier, the airline is struggling with billions of debt and has been bailed out by the government four times in the past decade.

Many market analysts have noted that there is a strong chance that the firm will file for bankruptcy protection as part of its restructure.

The Enterprise Turnaround Initiative, the state-backed rescue group, said that the government will make final decisions on what to do with the airline next week.

Minoru Matsuno, president of Value Search Asset Management, told Bloomberg that bankruptcy is almost certainly on the cards for the firm.

"It would be very optimistic for investors to expect the government to prevent bankruptcy now," he said.

Japan Airlines has filed a loss in three out of the past four business years and its shares have fallen to just seven yen each this week.

Written by Kimberley Homer.