JAPAN AIRLINES

Japan Airlines International Co., Ltd. (JAL), is the flag carrier of Japan, with its headquarters in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan. The airline's main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Tokyo International Airport, as well as Nagoya's Chūbu Centrair International Airport and Osaka's Kansai International Airport. The airline also operates fifth freedom flights from New York and Vancouver. The JAL Group's operations include scheduled and non-scheduled international and domestic passenger and cargo services to 220 destinations in 35 countries worldwide, including codeshares. The group has a fleet of 279 aircraft, consists of only Boeing aircraft for its long-haul operations; and Airbus, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft for its short-haul operations. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009, the airline group carrying over 52 million passengers and over 1.1 million tons of cargo and mail.

JAL was established on August 1, 1951 and began domestic operations on October 25 with a Northwest Airlines Martin 2-0-2. On August 1, 1953, it became a state-owned airline of Japan and began its first international services with a Douglas DC-6B, named City of Tokyo, from Tokyo to San Francisco on February 2, 1954. After over three decades of service and expansion, the airline was fully privatized on November 18, 1987. In 2002, Japan Airlines merged with Japan Air System, Japan's third-largest airline and became the sixth largest airline in the world by passengers carried.

Japan Airlines' slogan is "Dream Skyward", and the JAL group include Japan Airlines for international and domestic services; JALways for international leisure services; JAL Express for international and domestic low-cost services; Hokkaido Air System, J-Air, Japan Air Commuter, Japan Transocean Air and Ryukyu Air Commuter for domestic feeder services; and JAL Cargo for cargo and mail services. Japan Airlines and four of its subsidiaries; including J-Air, JAL Express, JALways and Japan Transocean Air; are members of the Oneworld alliance.

At the end of 2009 Japan Airlines stock tumbled as much as 32 percent to a record low because of the growing expectations the struggling carrier was headed for bankruptcy under a state restructuring plan.