Japan Air Lines (JAL) is an airline in trouble. It’s losing money faster than a rookie NFL player who just got his first payday, and it needs help. Now, Delta and American apparently have decided to battle over the airline because of its strategic importance.

You oneworld loyalists out there know that Japan Air Lines is a valuable partner over the North Pacific. Southeast Asia is well-covered by Cathay Pacific, but JAL provides an important link in the north between the US and Japan, and possibly more importantly, China. JAL holds a ton of slots at Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports, and those are scarce at desirable flight times. JAL is a natural fit for the alliance.

So when reports started surfacing last week that Delta was looking at pouring money into the bottomless sinkhole that is JAL, a lot of people were scratching their heads. I didn’t – this makes a lot of sense.

Remember, Delta inherited its Tokyo hub from Northwest, and it actually has a decent intra-Asian operation from Tokyo – a legacy from the end of World War II. As they say, to the winner go the spoils. There’s even a subfleet of narrowbodies based in Tokyo to fly some these routes.

My guess is that these routes absolutely suck wind right now. If Delta is really losing a ton of money as I suspect, they could eliminate all those routes and either use the slots to fly to the US or transfer them to JAL. The additional connectivity in Tokyo that they could gain from this link-up would add a bunch more traffic to feed all that US-Tokyo flying Delta does now. (You people in Portland could breathe a sigh of relief, because this could probably help that flight come off the edge of the cliff.)

This move could make a big, immediate difference on the bottom line. If Delta can pour some money in but get it back out very quickly in the form of improved profits, then it’s a no-brainer. Everyone in SkyTeam wins . . . except for Korean. Poor Korean would be demoted to second place in the North Pacific, and it would likely very seriously look at defecting to oneworld where it could take JAL’s place as top dog in the region (or only dog, as the case may be).

Of course, if JAL leaves, oneworld loses, so American has now come back with its plan to invest in JAL. American is pitching it as a strengthening of its partnership that has been in place for years. The airline would set up a joint venture similar to what we’ve seen over the Atlantic with the likes of United and Lufthansa, KLM and Northwest, etc. In other words, they’d split the revenues on flights between the US and Japan.

All this info is coming from magical “sources” and nothing has been confirmed, so we don’t really know any details about what’s being proposed here. There are also rumors that Air France/KLM is in the running, and that would be good news for Delta. Air France and JAL have actually had a legacy codeshare and frequent flier partnership that crosses alliance boundaries. It has strengthened in recent years, so this would add some more credibility to the Delta bid.

This is all pretty interesting to watch. It’s clear that JAL needs some cash, so it’s in a good place to pick the suitor that’s offering the best deal. It’s nice to be wanted.

You know I like to talk about new seats here on the blog, and this time I know some of you will be happy to hear that it’s coming from the Pacific Rim. (Yes, I know I should blog about the other side of the Pacific far more than I do.) So who is it now? Japan Air Lines has announced new First and Business class seats, and at least the First class seats look pretty good.

These new seats will be rolled out on the new 777-300ER aircraft, the first of which flies Tokyo to New York on August 1. As no US carrier seems to be able to do (quick, where are UA’s new Business seats?), JAL has given a precise schedule for when and where you can find the seats. They will “start operating every other day on the Tokyo-New York route (JL005/ 006) on August 1, 2008, going daily on August 11. This will be followed by the Tokyo-San Francisco route on September 13, 2008, and the Tokyo – Chicago and Los Angeles routes in FY2009, the year starting April 1, 2009.”

Ok, enough of that. Let’s talk about the seats. The JAL Suite is the new First class offering, and it looks to be a big step up for the airline. There will be only 2 rows of four in the front of each plane for a total of eight seats. The seats themselves are, of course, completely flat. Anything else wouldn’t be First class anymore. It is an almost completely enclosed suite with just one open area to enter and exit. If you’re sitting next to someone, there’s a privacy screen that you can bring down (as shown at left) if you’d like.

JAL has decided to go with a separate mattress for sleeping. There will be separate Tempur-pedic mattresses that go on top of each seat when flat. The whole Tempur-pedic thing is interesting. There are plenty of people who don’t like the feel of those strangely spongy-yet-firm mattresses, so I hope the seats are comfortable enough without the mattress for those who don’t like it.

What else? Well, meals will now come on-demand instead of at a set time. That’s good. What’s bad? Uh, the seats are white, sorry, “pale gray.” Those are going to show the dirt, I’m sure.

Now, let’s look at the Business seat. It appears to be more of a marketing campaign than anything else because the seats aren’t much different. First of all, no seat is truly “new” without a super cool name. JAL has chosen “JAL Shell Flat Neo Seat.” Sounds, uh, cool? Ok, maybe not.

It is apparently very similar to the old business class seat but these recline a little more (still a near-flat 171 degrees). But at least there is now a “slip-proof cover” so you won’t slide down too far. That’s probably the best thing the airline has done here.

Then, in an admirable attempt to marry style and pure commercialism, they will dedicate the wall of one of the galleys to a photo exhibition. I’m sure you’ll be SHOCKED to hear that it’s being sponsored by Fuji Film. Well, it’s better than pasting an ad on the tray table, I suppose.

This will also be the first plane to debut JAL’s Premium Economy class which appears to be similar to a British Airways-type offering versus a United-style one, unsurprisingly.

So, First is a big step for the airline and so is Premium Economy, but Business appears to be fairly similar to what was there before.

Today was a big day for new additions to global alliances. To be fair, these are just the announcements of additions but in the near future oneworld and SkyTeam fliers will have more options for mileage earning and redemption.

First up, SkyTeam. Air Europa, Copa Airlines, and Kenya Airways all signed up as associate members. Air Europa is based in Spain and flies to sun spots around the world so that frozen Europeans can warm up. Copa, formerly partially owned by SkyTeam member Continental, connects North and South America through its hub in Panama. Kenya Airways is probably the most exciting addition because it opens up an entire new continenta. From its Nairobi home in East Africa, the airline flies to Europe, Asia, West Africa, and Southern Africa.

Now, I’m not exaclty sure it was it means to be an associate member, but it probably means they have to get coffee and pick up dry cleaning for the primary members. I imagine the rules for joining as an associate are less strict so it’s easier to join. In the end though, they will have earn/burn ability for frequent flier miles, codesharing, and lounge sharing so the customer will benefit.

SkyTeam’s US members are Northwest, Continental, and Delta, at least until some merger happens and changes everything around.

Next up is oneworld. They said yesterday that as of April 1, Malev, Royal Jordanian, Japan Airlines (JAL), and all its affiliates will join the group. Also that day, Aer Lingus will leave the alliance and go it alone saying that everything is just fine, they’re at the controls, flying the plane, free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

Malev is based in Budapest (Hungary), Royal Jordanian in Amman (Jordan, duh), and JAL in Tokyo. They all fly to destinations on several continents. American is the US airline in this alliance.

Hong Kong’s Dragonair, along with LAN Ecuador and LAN Argentina will join sometime later this year as well marking a pretty strong expansion by the alliance.