Japan Airlines could file for bankruptcy protection Tuesday, ending monthslong speculation about its fate

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and beginning a massive overhaul to shed the inefficiency that has hobbled Asia’s biggest airline.

With debts of ¥1.5 trillion, or $16.5 billion, as of November, the airline would go down in Japanese corporate history as one of the biggest failures.

Despite its troubles, the airline’s access to Asia is a prized asset for foreign airlines. Delta Air Lines is trying to lure JAL from its alliance with American Airlines.

Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp., the Japanese state-affiliated agency leading the restructuring of the carrier, will make a final decision on its plan Tuesday, Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said last week.

JAL shares fell 29 percent, or ¥2, to a record low close of ¥5 at the close of trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

The company is now essentially worthless, with a market capitalization of about ¥13.7 billion — the price of one Boeing 787 jet.

It is a humbling outcome for Japan’s once-proud flagship carrier, which was founded in 1951 and spent its early years owned by the state. Along with the Japanese economy, it expanded quickly in the decades after World War II, and it was privatized in 1987.

But it soon became the victim of its own ambitions.

When Japan’s property and stock bubble of the 1980s burst, risky investments in foreign resorts and hotels undermined its bottom line. JAL also shouldered growing pension and payroll costs, as well as a big network of unprofitable domestic routes it was politically obligated to maintain.

More recently, JAL’s passenger traffic has slowed amid the global economic downturn, swine flu fears, competition from its Japanese rival All Nippon Airways and a spate of safety lapses that tarnished its image. It lost ¥131.2 billion in the six months through September.