Sony to sell jets as part of restructuring

Of the company's five jets, three are in the U.S. The other are two are kept in Japan and Europe, respectively. Sony is planning to sell two of the U.S.-based jets and then move the Japanese and European-based aircraft to the U.S. to replace them, said Mami Imada, a spokeswoman for Sony in Tokyo. The latter aircraft are a year newer than those to be sold, she said.

As a result, the company will make greater use of commercial flights when its top executives need to travel.

Sony embarked on a restructuring plan just over one year ago when Howard Stringer replaced Nobuyuki Idei as CEO of the company.

So far, that restructuring is on track, according to Sony. Its most recent financial results, which were for the last three months of 2005, were its strongest quarterly earnings in several years. At the same time, Sony revised its full-year forecast upwards. Stringer has been pushing disparate parts of the company to work more closely together, has closed factories, and has cut several product lines, including ending its plasma TV business, car audio products in Japan, and its iconic Aibo entertainment robot.

Sony is due to report full year financial results for the April 2005 to March 2006 period on April 27. Its most recent forecast calls for sales of Ľ7.4 trillion (US$62.6 billion) and net income of Ľ70 billion. For the same period a year earlier Sony reported sales of Ľ7.2 trillion and net income of Ľ164 billion.