British Airways PLC (BAY.LN) confirmed Friday that it is trying to keep loss-making Japan Airlines Corp. (9205.TO) inside its Oneworld alliance amid efforts by the rival SkyTeam grouping to lure it away.

BA has been in talks with the Japanese carrier for a number of months, according to people familiar with the situation. It is discussing deeper cooperation rather than any cash injection, these people said.

Keeping JAL in the alliance secures geographical reach for other members of Oneworld into Asia and helps trigger transfer traffic onto more lucrative long-haul flights. But the U.S.-to-Japan market is key and more important to U.S. carriers than European carriers that aren't strong on the transpacific routes.

"JAL is valuable to us as part of Oneworld," said a BA spokeswoman, who confirmed that BA, along with AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Airlines and other members of the Oneworld alliance, is in talks with JAL.

American is considering taking an equity stake in JAL, according to people familiar with the talks, and this week bolstered its weak balance sheet with a $2.9 billion fund-raising.

The Oneworld partner talks with JAL have become more urgent since Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) opened discussions three weeks ago about taking a small equity stake to pull it into SkyTeam, which lacks a Japanese partner, according to people familiar with the situation.

However, Qantas Airways Ltd. (QAN.AU) earlier Friday dismissed that it was in acquisition or consolidation talks concerning the struggling Japanese airline, but noted that it had a strong commercial interest in JAL's situation.

Delta's SkyTeam partner Air France-KLM (AF.FR) is also considering an investment in JAL, according to reports.

But Japan's transport minister, Seiji Maehara, said Friday it was too early to evaluate JAL's plan to cooperate with foreign carriers as it attempts to restructure and return itself to profit.

All Nippon Airways Inc. (ALPNY), the second-largest Japanese carrier after JAL, is a member of the Star alliance, the third industry grouping.

BA said the carriers are keen to show JAL that they are supporting them as part of Oneworld. The company spokeswoman declined to comment whether support would include any financial investment, adding that "we are demonstrating" support.

Currently, BA has a joint business agreement with Qantas on the London-to-Sydney route that allows the two carriers to share revenue on that route, while it has similar deal in place with Iberia on the London-to-Madrid and Barcelona routes.

BA's relationship with JAL is currently limited to some code-sharing deals and will unlikely be extended to the same extent as that seen with Qantas and Iberia.

But Star and SkyTeam alliances are more advanced, with much antitrust immunity already in place, and with members within the groups coordinating on marketing and I.T. systems to help lower costs.

American Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said Thursday that he "expects Oneworld to expand," but didn't comment on talks with JAL.

-By Kaveri Niththyananthan, Dow Jones Newswires; 4420 7842 9299; kaveri.niththyananthan@dowjones.com

(Daniel Michaels and Kazuhiro Shimamura contributed to this report. Doug Cameron reported from Chicago.)