Japan transport min: need to maintain two airlines

Published: 16 Sep 2009 22:23:55 PST

TOKYO, Sept 17 - Japan needs to maintain its two major airlines, the country's new transport minister Seiji Maehara said on Thursday, referring to Japan Airlines Corp (JAL) and All Nippon Airways.

Maehara said earlier he would replace an expert panel that had been formed under the previous Liberal Democratic Party administration to review the loss-making JAL's restructuring efforts and take a closer look at whether the state-supervised revitalisation was feasible.