JAL may sue govt over allocation of airport landing slots, says CEO

[TOKYO] Japan Airlines (JAL) reserves the right to sue the Japanese government for favouring rival ANA Holdings by allocating it more landing slots, JAL's president told Reuters yesterday, raising the prospect of an unprecedented battle that could batter the nation's airline industry.

Asking a court to force the government to review its recent allocation would be a rare step for a Japanese company, especially one that once enjoyed cozy ties with politicians and regulators but which has fallen out of favour of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's one-year-old administration.

"It's one of the steps we might take in the future," said Yoshiharu Ueki, when asked if legal action was one possibility.