Japan Airlines (JAL) has sold the remaining 19 747-400's in its fleet to AerSale. AerSale will disassemble a couple of the JAL 744's and sell them as aftermarket parts but expects the majority of the 19 JAL 744's remaining flying as passenger planes and freighter.

Source: AerSale Press Release via PRNewswire

I finally find out where Japan Airlines (JAL) is going to deploy the extra 777-300ER after switching Narita (NRT) - San Francisco (SFO) (JL001/002) from 777-300ER to 777-200ER. From October 31 2010, JAL will start First class service on NRT-Jakarta (CGK), the same day which JAL downsize SFO to 772. Since JAL will be using the SFO aircraft on this route, it is getting the latest and greatest products, i.e. JAL Suite and JAL Flat Shell NEO seats in First and Business class respectively. And don't forget about the Sky Gallery and Self-service bar. I start to feel jealous :P

Also, JAL will discontinue First class service on Hong Kong (HKG) route (JL731/732) from October 1 2010. Currently NRT-HKG is the only short-haul route left with First class service. When JAL switches this flight to Haneda (HND) airport, it will downsize the aircraft from 747-400 to 777-200ER, and therefore discontinuing First class service and finally retire the Sky Sleeper seats (at least no route with regular scheduled Sky Sleeper service). This will also marks an end of short-haul First class service. NRT-CGK will be the shortest route with First class service after this.

In case you have missed the press release from yesterday, Japan Airlines (JAL) will retire its entire 747-400 and A300-600 fleet by the end of this fiscal year. JAL has started the process of finding buyers for its plane a while back. And it has sold 9 of the 744's already. Any guess for how much JAL got from these?

We all know the volcanic eruption in Iceland has caused flight cancelations in Europe. The weather condition seems to improve a bit now and Japan Airlines (JAL) has started resuming some European flights yesterday.

JA8921 as JL736 at HKG on 2009-12-31.  Probably my last JAL 744 flight

(Update: It should be JAL is phasing out 20% of its fleet instead of 2% in the 3rd paragraph. This is what happens when you didn't sleep and blogged at 6am :P)

Japan Airlines has approached a foreign company and wants to sell off 49 of its aging aircraft ahead of schedule. If the deal goes through, JAL will get rid of these plan as early as this year!

The Japan Airlines restructuring rumors just won't end. It looks like to me people close to the source just throw out these ideas and test what the public reactions are. Then they will decide on what to do LOL. Mainichi Daily News reports the panel will suggest JAL to sell off a dozen of its large-sized planes and 30% of its subsidiaries.

It has been reported that Japan Airlines is considering a 10% work force reduction (~5000 employees) in the next three years as part of its restructuring plan. This will save JAL a total of 150 billion yen.

To achieve this, JAL plans on doing the following:

• Attrition
• Encourage early retirement
• Encourage the use of leave of absence system
• Sell off minor subsidiaries within JAL group 
• Realign subsidiaries 

Japan Airlines flight 011 on July 8 2009 from Mexico City o Vancouver, BC has to reject takeoff after engine problem. One of the four engines of the 744 did not reach takeoff thrust and the pilot has to return to the gate. According to JAL US website, the flight has to push back for 24 hours and so is the following flight from Vancouver to Narita.

Source: JAL America and Aviation Herald

I have been asked this question so many times. When will LAX (Los Angeles) switch from 744 to 773? Japan Airlines has finally updated its website to show JL062 and JL061 will switch to 773 on October 25 2009. And Chicago see the same change on the same day. But JAL probably hasn't updated their inventory or online booking system because I still can't buy a Premium Economy class ticket. Below is the booking page on JAL website

Someone tried to google "what aircraft is jal flying lax nrt" today and landed onto one of the pages on my blog (and then bounced...). Well in case you are still looking and somehow return to my blog again, here is the answer. 

I came across this video on youtube last night. A passenger on JL061 recorded the cabin attendants working at the galley which looks kind of creepy. Not sure if he really got the approval from all of the CA like he said he did in the video description. Watching the video makes me miss flying on JAL even more.

Ha! This is the flight I usually take when I do my LAX-NRT-HKG roundtrips. Even though the investigation is still ongoing, I believe JAL has nothing to do with this. The luggage got sucked into the engine (you can see that in the video) while the plane is being towed onto the taxiway. Basically the pilot had NO CONTROL over where the plane goes at that point. I believe It was the ground staff who made the mistake in this incident (either the one towing the plane or the one transporting the empty cart). Either way I am still giving them my business and have booked my coming flights with them. Hopefully my luggage won't get eaten LOL.