2021-02-25 14:05:34 GMT2021-02-25 22:05:34(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
TOKYO, Feb. 25 (Xinhua) Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) said Thursday it will slash the hiring of new graduates in fiscal year 2022-23 by 90 percent on the basis of the number that joined JAL group companies last spring.
The company said it will hire only 200 new graduates and give up the recruitment of cabin attendants for its main carrier Japan Airlines in fiscal 2022-23 starting in April next year.
The decisions were made as the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to continue adding pressure on travel demand.
JAL has slashed its international flights by around 80 percent. The company said in a statement that it remains difficult to predict when the pandemic will end.
An online reading held at an art festival in Yakage, Okayama Prefecture. (Nami Hamada)
In January this year, the small, scenic town of Yakage, Okayama Prefecture, was decked out with modern art pieces at its historic buildings and along its streets.
Special nighttime programs ran for nearly two weeks for an art festival titled “Workation Resort Bitchu Yakage” in the rural community, once the home of a post station along the Sanyo Road in the Edo Period (1603-1867).
The hope was that it would lure in visitors to the town for overnight stays. But this art festival, held during the pandemic, was not at all like a normal local event or tourism campaign.
FAA Orders Immediate Inspections After United Engine Failure
Boeing Backs Suspension of Flying Certain 777 Jets By U.S., Japan
Boeing Move Follows Engine Breaking Apart During United Airlines Flight Saturday
(Article Below Will Update)
The Federal Aviation Administration said late Sunday it was ordering immediate inspections of Boeing Co. 777 aircraft equipped with the type of engine that broke apart in the air and scattered debris over a Colorado town over the weekend.
“This will likely mean some airplanes will be removed from service,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a statement.
The move comes as safety investigators in the U.S. are looking into why the Pratt & Whitney-made engine of a Boeing 777-200 jet operated by United Airlines Holdings Inc. failed shortly after the Honolulu-bound flight with 241 people aboard took off Saturday, forcing the plane to return to the airport.
Boeing Co on Sunday called for the grounding of 128 of its 777 planes around the world as US regulators investigated a United Airlines Holdings Inc flight whose engine caught fire and fell apart over a suburban city.
United and Japan’s two main airlines confirmed they had already suspended operations of 56 planes fitted with the same engine that fell apart mid-flight over Colorado on Saturday.
The US National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) is also investigating the incident, in which no one was hurt.
Boeing said similarly fitted planes should be taken out of service until the US Federal Aviation Authority