When Haruka Nishimatsu, chief executive of Japan Airlines, joined pilots and cabin crew to distribute promotional pamphlets to passers-by in central Tokyo on Friday, he told reporters that such willingness to pitch in was vital to the future of the troubled former national carrier.

Yet Mr Nishimatsu also acknowledged that staff motivation was the lesser half of the effort to rebuild JAL’s business amid a brutal downturn in which it reported a record Y99bn ($1.1bn) loss in the second quarter.