Japan Airlines (JAL) said it would rearrange its international flights to shift the focus to profitable routes as part of its restructuring efforts.

Asia's largest airline said in a statement that it would no longer fly from Narita, the gateway to Tokyo, to Zurich while cutting the number of flights to Hong Kong and Guangzhou in southern China.

JAL will, on the other hand, increase the number of flights it makes from Narita to New York, Paris, Moscow and Delhi and from Osaka to Hanoi, and Dalian, Tsingtao and Hangzhou in China.

"This is part of our continuous restructuring," a company spokesman said. "We are now going to focus on profitable flights and reduce less profitable ones."

JAL is scheduled to announce its medium-term business plan on February 6, which may include further job cuts.

Local media have said a group of banks, led by Mizuho Corporate Bank and the government-affiliated Development Bank of Japan, plan to extend 200 billion yen (1.7 billion dollar) loans to the troubled airline.

JAL has been short of capital in the face of growing needs to finance its restructuring efforts, rehabilitate its ageing fleet and pay for the imminent redemption of bonds.

JAL has also suffered a series of safety scares that hit demand for its services, as high oil prices also drove up its fuel bill.

JAL said earlier this month that it was considering 3,000 more job cuts over three years, on top of 6,000 already announced, in a renewed effort to improve its profitability.