, formerly , was an international

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

registered in

Shinagawa is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, with its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

and its main hub at

Narita International Airport , also known as Tokyo-Narita International Airport or simply Narita Airport, formerly and originally known as , is the secondary international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the only other one being Haneda Airport (HND). It is about e ...

. The airline had a secondary hub at

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Kansai International Airport Kansai International Airport (), commonly known as Kankū (; ), is the primary international airport in the Keihanshin, Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is located on ...

. Its operations included scheduled and non-scheduled international

passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

services to 15 high-density low yield tourist destinations in nine countries using a fleet of

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

only aircraft wet-leased from

Japan Airlines Japan Airlines (JAL) is the flag carrier airline of Japan. JAL is headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Narita and Haneda Airport, Haneda airports, as well as secondary hubs in Osaka's Kansai ...

. JALways was founded as Japan Air Charter on October 5, 1990 and began charter operations with a

McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the Douglas DC-8, DC-8 for long-Range (aeronautics), range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; i ...

on February 22, 1991. The airline obtained a license to operate scheduled services on July 30, 1999 and operated its first scheduled passenger service on October 1. On the same day, the airline changed its name to JALways. In the

fiscal year A fiscal year (also known as a financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. La ...

ended March 31, 1999, JALways, together with its sister airlines within the JAL Group, carried over 32

million 1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...

passengers and over 1.1 million

ton Ton is any of several units of measure of mass, volume or force. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. As a unit of mass, ''ton'' can mean: * the '' long ton'', which is * the ''tonne'', also called the ''metric ...

s of cargo and

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

. JALways was once a wholly owned

subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company, or daughter company is a company (law), company completely or partially owned or controlled by another company, called the parent company or holding company, which has legal and financial control over the subsidia ...

of Japan's

flag carrier A flag carrier is a transport company, such as an airline or shipping company, that, being locally registered in a given sovereign state, enjoys preferential rights or privileges accorded by that government for international operations. Histo ...

, Japan Airlines, but on December 1, 2010 its operations were merged into those of its parent company.

History

The

was established on October 5, 1990, as Japan Air Charter Co., Ltd. (JAZ), an 80 percent-owned low-cost

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

(JAL), to operate leisure flights to Asia-Pacific resort destinations from regional airports in

; in response to a

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

policy. JAZ obtained its aircraft from JAL; its cockpit crews were

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

n contract

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

s based in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

and its cabin crews were hired and based in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, where it operates a cabin crew training centre. JAZ obtained license to operate non-scheduled services on February 22, 1991 and operated its first charter flight from

Fukuoka is the List of Japanese cities by population, sixth-largest city in Japan and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancient times. ...

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

with a

on July 1. The airline celebrated its 100,000th

on July 9, 1993, in a ceremony held in

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,098,335 in 539,698 households, making it the List of cities in Japan, twelfth most populated city in Japan. ...

. During the 1990s, JAL was hit by the effects of Japan's

recession In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction that occurs when there is a period of broad decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending (an adverse demand shock). This may be tr ...

, increased foreign competition and the strengthening of the

Japanese Yen The is the official currency of Japan. It is the third-most traded currency in the foreign exchange market, after the United States dollar and the euro. It is also widely used as a third reserve currency after the US dollar and the euro. Th ...

, JAZ was given a new role to help reduce costs. The airline obtained the license to operate scheduled services on July 30, 1999 and would operate as a scheduled carrier on a wet-lease basis for JAL. It would operate on high-density low yield tourist routes in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly the Japan–Hawaii services; with a fleet of four McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and five

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

s. On October 1, the airline changed its name to JALways Co., Ltd. and operated its first scheduled passenger service from Tokyo to Kona and Honolulu. JALways became a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan Airlines on March 9, 2001 through an exchange of shares. The change in ownership enabled JAL to consolidate and improve management and operational efficiency in the JAL Group's international passenger operations, part of the JAL Medium Term Corporate Plan 2000-2002. The airline introduced new uniforms for its cabin crew on April 1, 2005, and retired its last McDonnell Douglas DC-10 on October 31. JALways became an affiliate member of

Oneworld Oneworld (Computer reservations system, CRS: *O, stylised as oneworld) is a global airline alliance consisting of 14 member airlines. It was founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance f ...

on April 1, 2007, together with four of its sister airlines, in the alliance's biggest expansion in its young history. As part of the JAL Medium Term Corporate Plan for 2005–2007, announced on March 10, 2005, the JAL Group accelerated the retirement of older Boeing 747 aircraft. The airline operated its last Boeing 747-300 ''Classic Jumbo Jet'' as JALways Flight 73 from Honolulu to Tokyo on July 30, 2009; after 26 years of service to the airline group. The aircraft was draped in a giant Hawaiian lei before departure at

Honolulu International Airport Daniel K. Inouye International Airport , also known as Honolulu International Airport, is the main and largest airport in Hawaii.

; and the day was declared as "Japan Airlines Classic Jumbo Jet Day" by the

State of Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Governor Linda Lingle and Lt. Governor Duke Aiona The aircraft was met on arrival in Tokyo by the "Father of the 747", Mr Joseph F. "Joe" Sutter. A sell-out commemorative flight flew fans of the Boeing 747-300 ''Classic Jumbo Jet'' from Tokyo (Haneda) to Shimojishima on a round-trip day tour on July 5, 2009. In May 2009, it was reported that the airline terminated the assignments of 130 American contract

-based

pilots and closed its

Oahu Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...

office. Japan-based JAL cockpit crew now operates the five daily flights previously operated by the JALways crew.

Corporate affairs

Prior to closing, its

were on the third floor of the at

in Narita,

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

and its main hub at Narita International Airport. Previously its headquarters were on the 23rd floor of the Spheretower Tennoz (スフィアタワー天王洲 ''Sufiatawā Tennōzu'') in Higashi-Shinagawa,

Destinations

Until November 30, 2010, JALways operated scheduled services to 12 international and 3 domestic destinations in 9 countries in 3 continents.

Fleet

JALways operated a fleet of Boeing 747-400,

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified ...

and

Boeing 777-200 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long haul, long-range Wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the mo ...

aircraft, wet-leased from its parent,

Fleet history

Aircraft that has been in service with JALways are (in alphabetical order): *

Boeing 747-100 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body aircraft, wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the Boeing 707, 707 in October 1958, Pan Am ...

(JA8128) *

Boeing 747-200 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, ...

* Boeing 747-300/SR *

JAL Mileage Bank

JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) is the travel rewards program of JAL Group, including

, JALways, JAL Express, Japan Transocean Air, Japan Air Commuter, Hokkaido Air System and Ryukyu Air Commuter.

Incidents and accidents

On August 12, 2005, JALways Flight 58 operated by a

from

experienced left-wing engine trouble shortly after takeoff. The aircraft immediately returned to Fukuoka Airport. Some engine parts fell on the Sharyo district of Fukuoka and several people were slightly injured and parked car windscreens damaged.

References

External links

*
Japan Airlines

JALways Pilot Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jalways Airlines established in 1990 Airlines disestablished in 2010 Defunct airlines of Japan Japan Airlines Former Oneworld affiliate members Companies based in Chiba Prefecture Japanese companies disestablished in 2010 Japanese companies established in 1990