<div><p>TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares of Japan Airlines Corp <9205.T> jumped 4 percent on Wednesday after the struggling carrier said most of its retirees were willing to accept cuts to pension payouts.</p><p>JAL needs two-thirds of 8,800 retirees and two-thirds of 17,000 employees to agree to pension reductions -- a prerequisite for it to receive a government bailout.</p><p>The debt-laden carrier said on Tuesday that 5,700 retirees had said in a company survey that they were willing to accept proposed cuts to pension payouts, falling just short of the required numbers.</p><p>It may gain the two-thirds majority it needs if some of the 1,200 retirees who did not respond end up agreeing to the cuts.</p><p>"I was surprised to see the survey result as I didn't expect this many retirees would indicate their willingness (to accept cuts)," said Ryouta Himeno, transport analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities.</p><p>"It looks like JAL could secure formal approval from its retirees, which could really help in the company's turnaround," he added.</p><p>The airline will ask retirees and employees to give their formal consent to an average 40 percent cut to their pension payouts by the end of January.</p><p>JAL also said that 90 percent of its employees had responded in the survey that they understood the need for pension cuts.</p><p>The carrier has warned it could face bankruptcy unless it addresses a pension shortfall of about 330 billion yen ($3.7 billion).</p><p>If JAL and its employees and retirees cannot come to an agreement, the government has said it would consider crafting legislation to forcibly implement cuts.</p><p>In addition to a potential state bailout, the airline is likely to get funds from foreign carriers eager to gain access to JAL's network to fast-growing Asian markets.</p><p>American Airlines has said it and other members of the Oneworld alliance along with private equity fund TPG are willing to invest $1.1 billion in JAL to keep it from defecting to Delta Air Lines <DAL.N> and the rival Skyteam group.</p><p>Delta has said it and other SkyTeam members are ready to offer JAL a total financial aid package of about $1 billion, including a $500 million equity investment.</p><p>Shares of JAL were up 4 percent at 104 yen, outperforming the benchmark Nikkei average <.N225>, which rose 0.8 percent.</p><p>(Reporting by Nobuhiro Kubo; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Joseph Radford)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=65510926&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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