Japan Airlines Confirms Big Airbus Order

Japan Airlines is continuing to firm aircraft orders at the 2024 Farnborough Airshow, and Airbus will benefit this time.

The Japanese carrier has firmed a purchase for Airbus narrow and widebody aircraft to help propel it forward into the future more streamlined, efficient and ready to meet available demand.

Japan Airlines will commit to 20 Airbus A350-900s and 11 A321neo and act as a finalising of an announcement that came in March 2024 when it announced future fleet plans.

Furthermore, the firming of this Airbus portion of the deal comes one day after it similarly committed to additional Boeing 787 Dreamliners for long-haul flying.

This Airbus purchase does, however, involve a replacement aircraft, an A350-900, which follows the unit lost in a significant incident at the beginning of 2024. As a result, technically, it will acquire 21 new A350-900s.

The signing ceremony occurred at the Farnborough Airshow, where airline and plane-maker delegates celebrated the firm order.

Japan Airlines says the A350-900s will serve its international route network, part of the company’s intent to meet growing demand for travel to and from Japan.

Ultimately, the Airbus A350-900s deployment to international markets represents a shift in strategy for the usage of this specific variant. You can find Japan Airlines’ middle-ground A350 variant across more short-haul markets. However, this will change with the new batch of 20 units.

Meanwhile, adding the popular A321neo will be perfect for deployment across the Japanese domestic network. The increased capacity paired with efficiency is a true winning combination.

The A321neo commitment is for the standard version, not the newly certified and enhanced A321XLR. However, Japan Airlines has not ruled out the potential purchase of this variant later on.

Despite its substantial success in markets worldwide and performance at Airbus, Japan Airlines has not ordered the A321neo until now. JAL’s commitment to the single-aisle aircraft represents the first of its kind.