JAL Ferries Fourth Retired Boeing 777-300ER (JA732J) from Tokyo Haneda to Tucson, USA

Japan Airlines (JAL)’s fourth retired Boeing 777-300ER (registration: JA732J) departed Tokyo’s Haneda Airport for its buyer, Tucson International Airport in the United States, in the early hours of March 4. The ferry flight left stand 214 in front of the JAL hangar at 12:15 a.m. and took off from Runway C at 12:31 a.m.

JAL introduced a total of 13 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft between 2004 and 2009 as its mainstay fleet for long-haul international routes. With the phased introduction of the successor, the Airbus A350-1000, retirements have been progressing. The first aircraft (registration: JA734J) was retired on August 20, 2024, the second (JA731J) on May 27, 2025, and the third (JA735J) on September 9 of the same year.

The fourth aircraft to retire, JA732J, was the first Boeing 777-300ER test aircraft (registration: N5017V) built by Boeing for its development program. After various test flights, it was delivered to JAL on July 1, 2004.

Its first commercial flight as a JAL aircraft was flight JL781 from Tokyo/Narita to Beijing on July 10 the same year, and its last flight was JL52 from Sydney to Tokyo/Haneda on November 20, 2025. Over roughly 21 years in JAL service, it accumulated 11,358 flight cycles and 89,860 hours and 39 minutes of flight time.

▲ Final flight JL52 of JA732J arriving at Haneda (November 20, 2025)

At the time of retirement, the cabin configuration featured 244 seats in total: 8 First Class “JAL SUITE” seats in a 1-2-1 layout, 49 Business Class “JAL SKY SUITE” seats in a 2-3-2 layout, 40 Premium Economy “JAL SKY PREMIUM” seats in a 2-3-2 layout, and 147 Economy Class “JAL SKY WIDER” seats in a 3-3-3 layout. The aircraft carried the oneworld livery of the airline alliance to which JAL belongs.

During retirement maintenance after the end of operations, the JAL livery including the iconic crane logo was removed and the aircraft was painted all white, with its registration changed to the U.S. mark “N3243D”.

The person in charge of the aircraft sale procedures was Takuya Kutsuzawa from the Maintenance Group, Aircraft & Maintenance Procurement Department at JAL. He has also been involved in the sales of JA731J, JA734J, and JA735J. Regarding JA732J, he recalls that while the procedures were not significantly different from before, “for employees, this aircraft had the presence of a comrade-in-arms.” Since it was also one of Boeing’s test aircraft, many employees involved in its introduction at the time have strong memories of it, such as taking whirlwind one-night, three-day business trips to Seattle.

▲ Right: Takuya Kutsuzawa of JAL’s Maintenance Group, Aircraft & Maintenance Procurement Department, who handled the sale procedures; Center: Takahiko Tsuchiya of JAL Business Aviation, Airport Operations Department, who arranged and coordinated the ferry flight; Left: Sayaka Imamura of the same department

Watching the ferry flight depart in the pouring rain, Kutsuzawa commented, “It is sad that another aircraft filled with the thoughts and memories of our customers, fans, and employees is disappearing from Japan’s skies, but I feel we have been able to pass the baton to the next stage, carrying on the pride and quality built up by our predecessors.”

As replacement aircraft for its medium- and long-haul international routes, JAL has ordered 13 Airbus A350-1000s, the same number as its 777-300ER fleet. Of these, 11 aircraft from the first (registration: JA01WJ) to the eleventh (JA11WJ) have already been delivered and are being deployed on routes from Tokyo/Haneda to New York, Dallas, London, Paris, and Los Angeles.