Japan Airlines has announced that it is to cut a further 1,200 jobs in its current financial year as Asia's biggest carrier faces a continuing falling demand for air travel.

The airline says that it now expects a second straight year of losses when it announces its earnings next week. The company has forecast a net loss of Y.63bn ($641m) for the year ended March 31.

The airline says it now plans to cut about 3% of its work force by the end of March 2010 by not filling vacancies. Currently it has around 47,500 employees.

JAL has already cut thousands of jobs, but it says that addition reductions are necessary because of the continuing severity of the economic decline which has seen both business and leisure travel fall dramatically.