Japan Airlines pilots and flight attendants who were made redundant by the carrier on Wednesday have filed a lawsuit challenging their dismissal. The employee’s claim it was unnecessary to make them redundant as the airline, which filed for redundancy last year, is back in profit. JAL made an operating profit of more than 140 billion yen ($1.7 billion) from April to November in 2010.
Part of the airline’s restructuring out of bankruptcy protection involved cutting staff costs. However, pilots claim JAL is sacrificing pilots in the bid to slash operation costs.
The plaintiffs—74 flight crew and 72 cabin attendants—were among 165 employees let go as part of the restructuring.
Japan Airlines has not commented on the lawsuit filed in Tokyo.