Japan Airlines Corp., the biggest carrier in Asia, may shed 15,600 jobs, which accounts for a third of its workforce as it enter bankruptcy as soon as January 19.

JAL’s workforce will be slashed to around 36,000 by March 2013.

Under the court-led restructuring plans, which will be put into action by the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp, the layoffs will be coupled with cuts in wages & benefits.

As per estimates, JAL’s liabilities surpassed its assets by over 860 billion yen (equivalent to $9.5 billion).

In case JAL falls into bankruptcy, takeover talks with American Airline and Delta Airlines will suffer complications.

World’s biggest airline Delta and its rival group American Airlines have been trying hard to acquire a stake in JAL with a view to expand their network further in Asia.

Drop in passenger traffic in wake of recession and rising fuel costs played a vital role in pushing JAL’s losses up.