TOKYO: The Japanese government Friday set up a special team to study struggling Japan Airline's rehabilitation plan, the transport ministry said.

Transport Minister Seiji Maehara and experts on industrial revitalisation formed the team a day after Asia's largest carrier sought a public bailout to survive the economic downturn.

"The first meeting will take place shortly today," said a ministry official.

JAL, which lost more than one billion dollars in the April-June quarter, has announced plans to slash 6,800 jobs and pursue a tie-up with a foreign carrier as part of efforts to return to profit.

It will also submit further rehabilitation measures to the government by the end of this month.

The special team is expected to study the measures intensively while making an assessment of the carrier's assets.

JAL president Haruka Nishimatsu met Maehara Thursday and sought a public bailout, but the government gave a cool response to the request as the minister said the business revival plan was "insufficient."

Japan's new centre-left government has said that it would overhaul the restructuring process set in motion for JAL under the previous government, but has ruled out allowing it to collapse.