Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines is one of the two flag carriers of Japan headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The airline's main hubs are Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports, as well as secondary hubs in Osaka's Kansai and Itami airports. The JAL group comprises Japan Airlines, Hokkaido Air System, J-Air, Japan Air Commuter, Japan Transocean Air and Ryukyu Air Commuter for domestic feeder services, and JAL Cargo for cargo and mail services, as well as low-cost carriers Zipair Tokyo and Jetstar Japan.
JAL was established in 1951 as a government-owned business and became the national airline of Japan in 1953. After over three decades of service and expansion, the airline was fully privatised in 1987. In 2002, the airline merged with Japan Air System, Japan's third-largest airline, and became the sixth-largest airline in the world by passengers carried. It went bankrupt in 2009 in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and underwent significant restructuring. The airline returned to profitability and was relisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2011, although it has since lost its position as Japan's largest airline to All Nippon Airways.
JAL group operations include scheduled and non-scheduled international and domestic passenger and cargo services to 220 destinations in 35 countries worldwide, including codeshares. The group has a fleet of 279 aircraft. In the fiscal year ended 31 March 2009, the airline group carried over 52 million passengers and over 1.1 million tons of cargo and mail. Japan Airlines, J-Air, JAL Express, and Japan Transocean Air are members of the Oneworld airline alliance network.
History
Founding
Japan Airlines Co. was established on 1 August 1951, with the government of Japan recognising the need for a reliable air transportation system to help Japan recover in the aftermath of World War II. The airline was founded with an initial capital of ¥100 million; its headquarters were located in Ginza, Chūō, Tokyo. Between 27 and 29 of August, the airline operated invitational flights on a Douglas DC-3 Kinsei, leased from Philippine Airlines. On 25 October, Japan's first post-war domestic airline service was inaugurated, using a Martin 2-0-2 aircraft, named Mokusei, and crew leased from Northwest Orient Airlines subsidiary TALOA.On 1 August 1953, the National Diet passed the Japan Airlines Company Act forming a new state-owned Japan Airlines on 1 October, which assumed all assets and liabilities of its private predecessor. By 1953, the JAL network extended northward from Tokyo to Sapporo and Misawa, and westward to Nagoya, Osaka, Iwakuni, and Fukuoka.
On 2 February 1954, the airline began international flights, carrying 18 passengers from Tokyo to San Francisco on a Douglas DC-6B City of Tokyo via Wake Island and Honolulu. The flights between Tokyo and San Francisco are still Flights 1 and 2, to commemorate its first international service. The early flights were advertised as being operated by American crews and serviced by United Airlines in San Francisco.
The airline, in addition to the Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-6B, and Martin 2-0-2s, operated Douglas DC-4s and Douglas DC-7Cs during the 1950s. JAL flew to Hong Kong via Okinawa by 1955, having pared down its domestic network to Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. By 1958, the Hong Kong route had been extended to Bangkok and Singapore. With DC-7Cs, JAL was able to fly nonstop between Seattle and Tokyo in 1959.
Jet era
In 1960, the airline took delivery of its first jet, a Douglas DC-8 named Fuji, introducing jet service on the Tokyo-Honolulu-San Francisco route. JAL went on to operate a fleet of 51 DC-8s, retiring the last of the type in 1987. Fuji flew until 1974 and was then used as a maintenance training platform until 1989; its nose section was stored at Haneda Airport and eventually put on public display at the JAL Sky Museum in March 2014.JAL also began flying to Seattle and Hong Kong in 1960. At the end of 1961, JAL had transpolar flights from Tokyo to Seattle, Copenhagen, London, and Paris via Anchorage, Alaska, and to Los Angeles and San Francisco via Honolulu, Hawaii.
During the 1960s, JAL flew to many new cities, including Moscow, New York, and Busan. DC-8 flights to Europe via Anchorage started in 1961; flights to Europe via India started in 1962, initially with Convair 880s. Under government pressure, Boeing 727s were acquired for domestic services in 1965 to allow the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau to issue an import license for All Nippon Airways' own fleet of 727s.
By 1965, Japan Airlines was headquartered in the Tokyo Building in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. Around this time, over half of JAL's revenue was generated on transpacific routes to the United States, and the airline was lobbying the United States for fifth freedom rights to fly transatlantic routes from the East Coast. The transpacific route was extended east from San Francisco to New York in November 1966 and to London in 1967; flights between San Francisco and London ended in December 1972.
Between 1967 and 1969, JAL had an agreement with Aeroflot to operate a joint service between Tokyo and Moscow using a Soviet Tupolev Tu-114. The flight crew included one JAL member, and the cabin crew had five members each from Aeroflot and JAL. The weekly flight started in April 1967.
In 1972, under the 45/47 system, the so-called "aviation constitution" enacted by the Japanese government, JAL was granted flag carrier status to operate international routes. The airline was also designated to operate domestic trunk routes in competition with ANA and Toa Domestic Airlines.
The signing of a civil air transport agreement between China and Japan on 20 April 1974 caused the suspension of air routes between Taiwan and Japan on 21 April. A new subsidiary, Japan Asia Airways, was established on 8 August 1975, and air services between the two countries were restored on 15 September. During the 1970s, the airline bought the Boeing 747 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 for its growing routes within Japan and to other countries.
File:Noboru Takeshita full.jpg|thumb|Former Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita deplanes from a JAL McDonnell Douglas DC-10 while on a state visit to the United States in 1989.|alt=Japan Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and 11 others deplane on steps in red color, from a Japan Air Lines DC-10 marked with an Official Airline for Expo '90 Osaka, Japan logo and text
In the 1980s the airline performed special flights for the Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko of Japan, Pope John Paul II, and Japanese prime ministers. Until the introduction of dedicated government aircraft two Boeing 747-400s operated as Japanese Air Force One and Japanese Air Force Two. During that decade, the airline introduced new Boeing 747-100SR, Boeing 747-SUD, and Boeing 767 jets to the fleet and retired the Boeing 727s and Douglas DC-8s.
In 1978, JAL started flights to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro via Anchorage and San Juan; The stopover was changed to Los Angeles in 1982 and to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1999. Until 2009, the airline operated fifth-freedom flights between New York and São Paulo and between Vancouver and Mexico City.
Deregulation and privatisation
Japan began considering airline deregulation in the late 1970s, with the government announcing the abandoning of the 45/47 system in 1985. In 1987, Japan Airlines was completely privatised, and the other two airlines in Japan, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air System, were permitted to compete with JAL on domestic and international routes. The increased competition resulted in changes to the airline's corporate structure, and it was reorganized into three divisions: international passenger service, domestic passenger service, and cargo service. In 1988, JAL purchased a 7.5% shareholding in Air New Zealand. This was sold in 1994.Japan Airlines began the 1990s with flights to evacuate Japanese citizens from Iraq before the start of the Gulf War. In October 1990, Japan Air Charter was established, and in September 1996, an agreement with the Walt Disney Company made Japan Airlines the official airline of Tokyo Disneyland. JAL Express was established in April 1997, with Boeing 737 aircraft. In the 1990s, the airline experienced economic difficulties that stemmed from recessions in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as a domestic downturn. Despite years of profits since 1986, the airline began to report operating losses in 1992. Cost-cutting, including the formation of the low-cost JAL Express domestic subsidiary and the transfer of tourist operations to JALways, helped return the airline to profitability in 1999.
In 1997, the airline flew Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to Peru to help negotiate in the Japanese embassy hostage crisis. Japan Airlines placed orders for Boeing 777s during the 1990s, allowing for fleet renewal. It was one of eight airlines participating in the Boeing 777 design process, shaping the design to their specifications.
File:JapanAirSystemA300withJALLogo.JPG|thumb|Japan Air System Airbus A300-600R with JAL logo on the fuselage|alt=An Airbus A300-600R in the air during take-off
In 2001, Japan Air System and Japan Airlines agreed to merge; and on 2 October 2002, they established a new holding company called Japan Airlines System, forming a new core of the JAL Group. Aircraft liveries were changed to match the design of the new JAL Group. At that time, the merged group of airlines was the sixth largest in the world by passengers carried.
On 1 April 2004, JAL changed its name to Japan Airlines International and JAS changed its name to Japan Airlines Domestic. JAS flight codes were changed to JAL flight codes, JAS check-in desks were refitted in JAL livery, and JAS aircraft were gradually repainted. On 26 June 2004, the parent company Japan Airlines System was renamed to Japan Airlines Corporation.
Following the merger, two companies operated under the JAL brand: Japan Airlines International and Japan Airlines Domestic. Japan Airlines Domestic had primary responsibility for JAL's large network of intra-Japan flights, while JAL International operated both international and trunk domestic flights. On 1 October 2006, Japan Airlines International and Japan Airlines Domestic merged into a single brand, Japan Airlines International.
The airline applied to join Oneworld on 25 October 2005. Japan Airlines claimed that its Oneworld membership would be in the best interests of the airline's plans to further develop the airline group and its strong commitment to providing the very best to its customers. Japan Airlines, together with Malév and Royal Jordanian, joined the alliance on 1 April 2007.
On 1 April 2008, JAL merged the operations of its subsidiary Japan Asia Airways into JAL mainline operations. JAA had operated all JAL group flights between Japan and Taiwan between 1975 and 2008 as a separate entity due to the special political status of Taiwan.