, was an

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...

with its headquarters at

Tokyo International Airport , officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...

and in Ota-ku, Tokyo, Japan, and its main hub at Tokyo International Airport. It also maintained offices in the Japan Airlines Building in

Shinagawa, Tokyo is a special ward in Tokyo, 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 km2. The total a ...

. Its operations included scheduled and non-scheduled passenger services to eight regional destinations across Japan. It also served 15 additional destinations in Japan, and two in the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, sli ...

on behalf of

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, ...

, under a

wet-lease Aircraft leases are leases used by airlines and other aircraft operators. Airlines lease aircraft from other airlines or leasing companies for two main reasons: to operate aircraft without the financial burden of buying them, and to provide tempora ...

agreement. JAL Express was a wholly owned subsidiary 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 the government for international operations. Hist ...

and an affiliate member of the

Oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international travellers. Its central alliance offic ...

alliance. It was founded April 1, 1997, and began operations with a

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

on July 1, 1998. It celebrated its tenth anniversary and first flight in April 2007 and July 2008, respectively. It operated its first international flight in May 2009, and flew to

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, wh ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. In the

fiscal year A fiscal year (or 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. Laws in many ju ...

ending March 31, 1999, JAL Express, together with its sister airlines within the JAL Group, carried over 32 million passengers and over 1.1 million

ton Ton is the name of any one of several units of measure. It has a long history and has acquired several meanings and uses. Mainly it describes units of weight. Confusion can arise because ''ton'' can mean * the long ton, which is 2,240 pounds ...

s of cargo and mail. The carrier ended operations on 30 September 2014 after being fully integrated with Japan Airlines.

History

JAL Express (JEX) was established on April 1, 1997 as a wholly owned domestic subsidiary airline of Japan Airlines (JAL), with initial

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

of ¥5.8 million. It operated scheduled passenger services to regional domestic destinations in Japan, as well as some low-demand flights for JAL under

agreement. It was also considered for services on the domestic trunk and short-haul international routes. On July 1, 1998, JAL Express commenced operations from

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

Miyazaki Miyazaki may refer to: People * Hayao Miyazaki, Japanese animator * Hidetaka Miyazaki, video game director * Gorō Miyazaki, Japanese film director and landscaper, and son of Hayao Miyazaki. * For others, see Miyazaki (surname) Places * Miyaza ...

and

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

with two Boeing 737-400s, non-Japanese cockpit crew, and short-term contracted

cabin attendant A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are prima ...

s. The airline's cabin attendants, called ''Sky Cast'', were responsible for cleaning the 150-seat cabin between flights. The airline celebrated its one millionth passenger in June 2000 and commenced wet-lease operation for its parent JAL in December 2000. On 14 November 2002, JAL introduced a new aircraft livery design, "The Arc of the Sun", across the JAL Group fleet. A reception to celebrate the completion of the first aircraft with the new design was held at the JAS M2 hangar. In April 2005, the

McDonnell Douglas MD-81 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gene ...

was introduced to the airline fleet, with an all

Economy Class Economy class, also called third class, coach class, steerage, or to distinguish it from the slightly more expensive premium economy class, standard economy class or budget economy class, is the lowest travel class of seating in air travel, ...

configuration with 163 seats. JAL Express became an affiliate member of

on April 1, 2007, together with four of its sister airlines, in the alliance's biggest expansion in its young history. On the same day, the airline celebrated its tenth anniversary of establishment. JAL Express welcomed the arrival of the new

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a narrow-body aircraft powered by two jet engines and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third generation derivative of the Boeing ...

to its fleet in January 2008 and celebrated the tenth anniversary of its first flight in July 2008. It operated its first international flight in May 2009 under a wet-lease agreement with JAL. On July 9, 2010, JAL Express pilot Ari Fuji became its first female airline flight captain. As of March 27, 2011, all of JAL Express flights were being operated as JAL flights, until the full merger of the two carriers in September 2014.

Destinations

JAL Express operated to the following destinations:

Fleet

As of September 2013, JAL Express operated 42

narrow-body aircraft A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast seating in a cabin less than in width. In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner usually configured with mul ...

, with either two classes of service ( ''class J'' and

Economy class Economy class, also called third class, coach class, steerage, or to distinguish it from the slightly more expensive premium economy class, standard economy class or budget economy class, is the lowest travel class of seating in air travel, ...

) or single class of service (Economy Class).

Services

In-flight catering

Cold beverages (including Hajime Saori cooled-

green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since ...

, JAL Original citrus drink ''Sky Time'' and apple juice), hot beverages (including tea, green tea, coffee and

consommé In cooking, a consommé is a type of clear soup made from richly flavoured stock or broth that has been clarified, a process that uses egg whites to remove fat and sediment. Consommé has three English pronunciations: traditionally in the UK, th ...

soup), JAL Original candy, and

sugar candy Sugar candy is any candy whose primary ingredient is sugar. The main types of sugar candies are hard candies, fondants, caramels, jellies, and nougats. In British English, this broad category of sugar candies is called ''sweets'', and the ...

were available on JAL Express flights. Passengers traveling in C''lass J'' could enjoy JAL C''lass J'' in-flight catering services. From March 27, 2011, passengers traveling in all classes could enjoy in-flight catering services on all flights.

In-flight entertainment

JAL Group's in-flight magazine, ''Skyward'', JAL Express's in-flight magazine ''JEX Letter,'' and in-flight shopping magazine ''JALSHOP'' were available on board. No newspaper or audio or video programs were available. ''Class J'' passengers could enjoy JAL C''lass J'' in-flight entertainment services where available. After March 27, 2011, passengers in all classes could enjoy in-flight entertainment services on all of flights.

References

External links

*
Official website of JAL Japan Airlines
{{good article Airlines established in 1997 Airlines disestablished in 2014 Airline companies based in Tokyo Japan Airlines Defunct low-cost airlines Former Oneworld affiliate members