Japan Airlines (JAL) announces the JAL SKY Wi-Fi service expansion plan today. JAL will install eXConnect from Panasonic on its 777-200ER, 767-300ER, and 787 fleets aggressively to provide inflight internet service on long-haul flights to North America, Europe and Southeast Asia.

JAL collaborates with the Kumamto Prefecture government to create the 9th installment of the AIR SERIES: AIR KUMAMON. Image by Japan Airlines.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced the 9th installment of its popular AIR SERIES, a special Economy Class and Premium Economy inflight meal which JAL collaborate with well-know restaurants and food chains. But this time JAL will be collaborating with a local government of the Kumamoto Prefecture located in the center of Kyushu instead.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has finally announced the specific rollout dates for its inflight Wi-Fi service, JAL SKY Wi-Fi, for its European routes. Passengers traveling between Tokyo Narita (NRT) and London (LHR) and Frankfurt (FRA) will be able to enjoy this paid service from April 17 2013, initially on alternate days only. After this, JAL will further expand this service to flights between NRT and Paris (CDG) in mid-August (hint: that's probably when CDG is getting the SKY SUITE 777 (SS7) service ;))

JAL Business Class passengers will be able to view and order dishes from their touch-screen controller. Image by Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) has recently started rolling out its state-of-art long-haul products dubbed SKY SUITE 777 (SS7) to its entire Boeing 777-300ER fleet. The goal is to create a JAL "New Sky" experience with fresh products and services. One of the most drastic changes is using the B/E Aerospace's Super First Class seats in its Business Class cabin to provide a comfortable personal space for the valued customers. Today, JAL steps up its game once again by announcing yet another inflight enhancement for its SS7 Business Class passengers. With the latest inflight entertainment system (IFE) update, Business Class passengers will be able to browse through the "Anytime You Wish" a la carte menu as well as the inflight duty free shopping menu using the touch-screen LCD controller. They will also be able to place an order using the same controller as well.

SKY MAP, part of the new JAL SKY SHARE service. Image from Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) is going to roll out a brand new inflight service called JAL SKY SHARE this spring for a limited time. Via the innovative JAL SKY SHARE, you can send personalized postcards and video messages to friends and families using photos taken during your flight. A youtube video summary will also be sent to you upon arrival. But in order to enjoy this service, you will need to be one of the paying customers of the JAL SKY Wi-Fi service as you will need to upload and send pictures via Wi-Fi during the flight.

[Update: JAL has moved up the rollout schedule, details can be found in this post]

A week ago, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced the Tokyo Narita (NRT) - New York (JFK) route will be getting the new long-haul cabin, dubbed SKY SUITE 777 (SS7), from early May 2013. But no specific days have been announced. Now JAL has finally updated its website to give more details.

It's this time of the year again which Japan Airlines (JAL) usually downgrade the equipments used on the Tokyo Narita (NRT) - Jakarta (CGK) route due to maintenance of the 777-300ERs used on the North America network. In the past, JAL was able to deploy and 777-300ER with the older generation products on this route. However, as we all know JAL has been retrofitting its entire 777-300ER fleet with the latest SKY SUITE 777 products, the CGK route will unfortunately be downgraded to a 777-200ER instead this year.

JAL to roll out SS7 to the New York JFK route in early May 2013. Image from Japan Airlines website

[Update: JAL has announced the rollout schedule on the JFK route, which you can find in this post]
[Update 2: JAL has moved up the rollout schedule, details can be found in this post]

Japan Airlines (JAL) has finally officially announced the roll out timeline of SKY SUITE 777 (SS7) for the Tokyo Narita (NRT) - New York (JFK) route. It was previously pre-maturally published on its website but the information has since then been removed. At the same time, JAL also announced the rollout schedule of JAL SKY Wi-Fi service to the European routes.

JAL to server "AIR MOS Teriyaki Egg Burger" on select long-haul flights. Image from Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) announced today it is going to collaborate with MOS Burger once again in the next dish of the popular AIR SERIES. For a limited time, JAL will serve a teriyaki burger with egg from MOS Burger as the second meal on select long-haul flights departing from Tokyo.

JAL will be serving the finest Miyazaki beef on international first class for a limited time. Image from Japan Airlines

As reported before, Japan Airlines (JAL) will be launching the brand new international long-haul products, dubbed "SKY SUITE 777" (SS7), on the Tokyo Narita - London Heathrow route on January 9 2013. At the same time, JAL will be renewing its inflight catering service with the help of 4 celebrity chefs. To celebrate the launch of the new and improved products, JAL will be serving the Miyazaki beef on select international First Class flights between January 9 and March 31 2013.

Staff from JAL cabin product design department tried out the new SKY WIDER seat. Image from Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) official Facebook page has posted some stories of the design process for the new business class and economy class seats which will first roll out to the Tokyo Narita - London Heathrow route in early January 2013. You can see how much attention to details that the design team paid even when they are designing for the Economy Class seats!

Japan Airlines (JAL) announces the roll out schedule of its inflight wi-fi service "JAL SKY Wi-Fi". As expected, the launch route will be Tokyo Narita (NRT) - New York JFK (JFK) (JL005/006). The service will progressively rolled out to the rest of the 777-300ER routes in JAL international network.

To celebrate the frequency increase of flights between Tokyo Haneda (HND) and Kita Kyushu (KKJ), Japan Airlines (JAL) will be serving free breakfasts to all passengers on early morning flights between the two cities between March 25 and May 31 2012.

JAL Original AIR MISDO served with Boston's signature clam chowder (Source: JAL Press release)

To celebrate for the launch of the new Tokyo Narita (NRT) - Boston (BOS) route, Japan Airlines (JAL) has collaborate with Duskin Co to create a JAL Original version of doughnuts, AIR MISDO, from the famous Mister Donuts franchise served exclusively on JAL flights from NRT to BOS.

FAA has eventually certified the GE powered 787-8 and therefore we finally have a firmed delivery date of the first Japan Airlines (JAL) 787. JAL will take delivery on March 25 2012. Then the plane will fly from Seattle Paine Field to Tokyo Narita the following day and will arrive on March 27 2012. And since we finally have a firmed delivery date, JAL has also reveal the long-haul configuration of their 787 and its interior.

JAL's Air Yoshinoya (Soruce: JAL Press Release)

I know you are expecting Japan Airlines (JAL) to announce another collaboration with famous Japanese restaurant right? And you are right, after the Air Mos Burger collaboration with Mos Burger and Air Nikuman collaboration with Edosei, JAL will collaborate with Yoshinoya, the largest Japanese beef-bowl chain, and serve "Air Yoshinoya", a traditional beef-bowl, on select international flights between March 1 and May 31 2012.

JAL to serve Japan-made cheese onboard from March 1 2012 (Source: JAL Press release)

Japan Airlines (JAL) has been busy updating its onboard catering in the recent months. They have renewed their onboard wine offering, established the JAL CAFE LINES of coffee in different cabins, developed JAL exclusive chocolates with Jean-Paul Hevin, and upgraded the onboard freshly steamed rice to the No. 1 Japanese rice. Now they are going to offer a new lineup of Japanese cheese served on select international flights departing from Japan from March 1 2012.

[Update 2: JAL has yet made another slight modification to the seat map. For the latest version of the economy class seat map, please refer to this post]
[Update: JAL has updated the booking engine to show the type of business class product used on 787. Details can be found on the latest post] Japan Airlines (JAL) has updated their 787 longhaul seat map. Until recently, JAL has been using the A43 configuration on 767-300ER as the place holder (well A43 minus the lavatories and galleys). The newly updated seat map reflects a bigger business class cabin and a 2-4-2 configuration in economy class instead of 2-3-2. Below are the detail seat map.

JAL x Unchi Cafe SWEETS (Source: JAL Press Release)

In response to passengers' request for premium chocolates in premium economy class, Japan Airlines (JAL) has collaborated with LAWSON to offer LAWSON's original chocolate snack "Uchi Cafe SWEETS" on 7 of JAL's international routes from Oct 1 2011 to Feb 29 2012.

How does JAL Inflight Internet Service by eXConnect work? (Picture Source: JAL Press Release)

Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced its plan to offer high-speed internet connection through Wi-Fi on its international flights from mid-2012. JAL has picked the the "eXConnect" technology from Panasonic Avionics, which is a satellite based technology.