Japan Airlines, (JAL) will make a decision regarding the replacement of its aging fleet of Boeing 767s and Embraer regional jets within a year or two, according to a senior executive at the airline.
The airline is considering the 787 and A321neo families as viable options to replace its 767 fleet and the A220 and Embraer E2 models as replacements for its Embraer fleet, JAL’s head of route marketing, international relations and alliances, Ross Leggett told Reuters.
“We have got a fairly large 787 fleet, so whether it is an A321 that could then be used quite well within Asia as well, we really haven’t looked at the full decision,” Leggett told Reuters during an airline industry gathering in Doha.
Based in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan Airlines operates a fleet of 218 aircraft consisting of leased and owned models according to fleet data on its website.
JAL owns two Boeing 767-300s, 29 Boeing 767-300ERs, 14 Embraer E-190s and 18 Embraer E-170s. These account for about 29% of the airline’s entire fleet.
According to Leggett, Japan Airlines had returned domestic capacity to 100% of pre-pandemic levels in May 2022, although demand levels are running at levels between 85% to 95% of 2019 levels.
According to IATA, domestic demand is expected to reach 93% of pre-pandemic levels in 2022.
A monthly passenger traffic data report released by JAL on May 31, 2022, reveals that the airline carried 1,809,077 domestic passengers in Q1 FY22, with a load factor of 54.9.
