J-Air
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| Founded | 8 August 1996 | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | 1 November 1996 | ||||||
| Hubs | |||||||
| Focus cities | |||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | JAL Mileage Bank | ||||||
| Alliance | Oneworld (affiliate) | ||||||
| Fleet size | 32 | ||||||
| Destinations | 17 | ||||||
| Parent company | Japan Airlines | ||||||
| Headquarters | Itami Airport, Osaka, Japan | ||||||
| Key people | Tsuyoshi Yamamura (President) | ||||||
| Website | www | ||||||
J-Air Co., Ltd. (株式会社ジェイエア, Kabushiki-gaisha Jei Ea), is a regional commuter airline with its headquarters in the Terminal Building in Itami Airport near Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan[1] and its main hub at Itami Airport. J-Air previously had its headquarters in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture.[2] Its operations include scheduled passenger services to 17 destinations across regional Japan, under Japan Airlines flight numbers. The airline has a fleet of 35 aircraft, consisting of Embraer 170s and Embraer 190s linking tier-two and tier-three cities in Japan as to bypass JAL's congested hub in Tokyo (both Narita and Haneda).
J-Air is a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan's flag carrier, Japan Airlines (JAL) and an affiliate member of the Oneworld alliance. The airline was founded on 8 August 1996, when JAL restructured JAL Flight Academy and J-Air was separated; and began operations as a separate entity from Hiroshima-Nishi Airport on 1 November. Faced with limited opportunities for route expansion at Hiroshima, the airline relocated to its new home at Nagoya Airfield, after the opening of Chūbu Centrair International Airport, on 17 February 2005. In the fiscal year ended 31 March 1999, J-Air, together with its sister airlines within the JAL Group, carried over 32 million passengers and over 1.1 million tons of cargo and mail.[citation needed]
History
JAL Flight Academy (JFA) was established by Japan Airlines (JAL) in August 1989, as a flight training school subsidiary based at Omura Airport, Nagasaki. It provided conversion training for its flight engineers to become pilots. In April 1991, a new division of JFA was created to operate scheduled services to succeed the troubled Nishi Seto Airlink services, a commuter airline serving cities in western Japan. Since the introduction of the 19-seats Jetstream 31s (JS31) in September 1991, the aircraft progressively replaced the Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante inherited from Nishi Seto.[3][4][5]
In August 1996, JAL Flight Academy was restructured, J-Air was separated and established as a wholly owned regional subsidiary airline of Japan Airlines on 8 August. On 1 November, the airline inaugurated its first flight from Hiroshima-Nishi Airport and was building up service on smaller-demand domestic routes, which larger aircraft could not serve economically. However, the local government subsidy was terminated at the end of the 2000 fiscal year and the airline was required to become self-sufficient. As part of its domestic marketing strategy, JAL found a niche market where the 100-plus-seats Boeing 737s were too large and frequent services were in demand, and began repositioning the airline. Fifty-seats Bombardier CRJ-200s were introduced and progressively replaced the five JS31s until completion in August 2003.[3][4][6]
Despite the introduction of the Bombardier CRJ-200s, there were limited opportunities for route expansion from its home at Hiroshima-Nishi Airport. The airline decided to move to Nagoya Airfield, after the opening of Chūbu Centrair International Airport. On 17 February 2005, J-Air realized its dream and relocated to its new home at Nagoya Airfield. In order to strengthen the recognition of the JAL brand and improve customer convenience, the airline disposed its own flight numbers and changed to JAL flight numbers from 1 April 2005.[4][7]
On 1 April 2007, J-Air, together with four of its sister airlines within the JAL Group, joined Oneworld and became a Oneworld affiliate member.[8] On 18 June, JAL signed a purchase agreement with Embraer for ten Embraer 170 jets, with options to acquire another five aircraft. The contract value was worth approximately US$435 million, if all the options are exercised. The aircraft will be used for linking tier-two and tier-three cities in Japan as to bypass the airline’s congested hub in Tokyo. The aircraft was configured to seat 76 passengers in a single-class layout and was designated for J-Air.[9][10] The first aircraft was delivered on 3 October 2008, received the type certification from the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) on 27 October and operated its first flight in February 2009.[11][12][13]
J-Air has been reported by Japanese newspapers and television to be leaving Nagoya Airfield in a phased transition with many flights leaving October 2010 and all flights leaving by end of March 2011.
Destinations
J-Air operates to the following destinations (as of October 2019):[14]
Fleet
Current fleet
As of July 2023[update], J-Air operates the following aircraft:[15][needs update]
| Aircraft | In Fleet | Orders | Passengers | Image | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embraer E170 | 18 | 2 | 76 |  |
[Note 1] |
.jpg) | |||||
| Embraer E190 | 14 | 1 | 15/80 | .jpg) |
|
| Total | 32 | 3 | |||
Former fleet
Aircraft that have been in service with J-Air were (in alphabetical order):
| Aircraft | Image | Notes | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet-200 (Bombardier CRJ-200) | .jpg) |
[Note 2] | [16][17] |
 | |||
 | |||
| Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante |  |
[4] | |
| Jetstream 31 | _(4080605968).jpg) |
[4] |
JAL Mileage Bank
Historical Liveries
J-Air had many liveries over the years. In the following order:[Note 3]
1991 to 2002: J-AIR livery
A fusion of the J-AIR letters with a red square separating the 'J' and the 'Air' titles and a grey band feature on the fuselage.
2002 to 2011: Arc of the Sun livery
After Japan Airlines (JAL) and Japan Air System (JAS) merged, the Tokyo office of Landor and JAL worked together again to create a new brand identity. Landor devised a livery referred to as the "Arc of the Sun". The 2000s rebranding began in April 2002 and was completed in April 2004. The brand identity firm designed 300,000 specific items for JAL. The JAL acronym remained, but it was changed to include a curved bar, which replaced the simple red square and gray rectangle used from 1989 (1991 For J-AIR). The curved bar was likened to a samurai sword. The tail now featured a quarter sun outlined in silver. JAL changed its branding again on 1 April 2011, reverting to the original 1959 brand, with slight modifications, as part of their post-bankruptcy rebrand.
2011-Present: Tsurumaru J-Air livery
The J-Air livery is called the tsurumaru (鶴丸) or "crane circle." It is an image of a Japanese red-crown crane with its wings extended in full flight. The Tsurumaru logo of its parent (Japan Airlines) was created in 1958 by Jerry Huff, the creative director at Botsford, Constantine and Gardner of San Francisco, which had been the advertising agency for Japan Airlines from its earliest days.
Gallery
Showing what J-Air calls or called the Aircraft
J-Air Livery
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Arc of the Sun
.jpg)
.jpg)
Tsurumaru
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Historical Logos
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1991 to 2008 -
2003 to 2011 -
2011-Present
.svg){kind=logo}
See also
References
- ^ "会社案内." J-Air. Retrieved on February 14, 2010.
- ^ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 19–25, 2002. 80.
- ^ a b "JAL Subsidiary Airlines" (Press release). Japan Airlines. 2000-01-20. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
- ^ a b c d e ジェイ・エアのあゆみ [J-Air's Progress] (in Japanese). J-Air. Retrieved 2009-09-09.
- ^ "J-Air" (PDF). Flight International. Reed Business Information. 2004-03-23. p. 89. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "Other News". ATW Daily News. Penton Media. 2005-01-07. Archived from the original on 2012-03-11. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "JAL Group Subsidiary J Air Flight Numbers to Change to JAL" (Press release). Japan Airlines. 2004-12-27. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
- ^ "Japan Airlines". ATW Daily News. Penton Media. 2007-04-03. Archived from the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "Embraer Sells Ten E-Jets to Japan Airlines" (PDF) (Press release). Embraer. 2007-06-18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-27. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
- ^ "JAL chooses E-170 for J-AIR subsidiary". ATW Daily News. Penton Media. 2007-02-23. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "Japan Airlines". ATW Daily News. Penton Media. 2008-10-06. Archived from the original on 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- ^ "Embraer Delivers First Embraer 170 Jet to Japan Airlines" (PDF) (Press release). Embraer. 2008-10-03. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-27. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
- ^ "Embraer 170 Jet is Certified in Japan" (PDF) (Press release). Embraer. 2008-11-05. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-08-27. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
- ^ 路線・時刻表 [Route and Timetable] (in Japanese). J-Air. Archived from the original on 2017-02-05. Retrieved 2020-01-01.
- ^ "Global Airline Guide 2019 (Part One)". Airliner World (October 2019): 18.
- ^ "J-Air Fleet | Airfleets aviation". airfleets.net. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
- ^ ジェイエアCRJが抹消登録 国交省の航空機登録18年2月分 Retrieved 17th April, 2018 (in Japanese)
External links
Media related to J-Air at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website (in Japanese)
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