JAL to shut down Osaka and Fukuoka cabin attendant bases

Reports surfaced yesterday that Japan Airlines will shut down its cabin attendant bases in Osaka and Fukuoka at the end of June as part of the restructuring. JAL has started informing the affected cabin attendants about this idea.

In other to streamline operations, JAL wants to transfer those Osaka and Fukuoka based cabin attendants to Tokyo. They will have either Haneda or Narita as their new base. If the cabin attendants do not want to move to Tokyo, they can participate in the early retirement scheme. JAL currently has around 500 cabin attendants based in Osaka (ITM and KIX).

I guess this will make cabin crew scheduling a bit more flexible? But this is hard for some people. Some of the cabin attendants have been living in Osaka forever and has a life there. This will be a big change for them. For those who are married and with kids, they have to look for new schools and new possibly new job for their spouse. So I don't know how many of the 500 Osaka based cabin attendants will accept the relocation. Is this a subtle way to force people accept the early retirement scheme? No wonder JAL has set the target number so high LOL

You can watch the video report from TBS News website.

Source: TBS News (in Japanese)

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