The special livery Airbus A350-900 “DREAM SHO JET” (registration: JA08XJ) operated by Japan Airlines (JAL) flew its final day of service on June 10. The aircraft features Japanese Major League Baseball (MLB) player Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and on its last day it operated one round-trip each on the Tokyo/Haneda–Sapporo/Chitose and Tokyo/Haneda–Fukuoka routes.
DREAM SHO JET entered service on September 29, 2024. On the left side of the fuselage, Ohtani is depicted wearing a helmet, while on the right side he is shown with a glove, highlighting his “two-way” role as both pitcher and hitter in large artwork towards the rear of the fuselage. A total of 90 decals were used, 45 on each side. The design area measured approximately 5 meters high and 19 meters long on each side. Over roughly one year and eight months through the end of May, the aircraft was operated on 2,720 flights, accumulating 4,040 hours and 56 minutes of flight time.
This was the first time in about 21 years that an MLB player had been featured on a JAL aircraft. The previous examples were the “Matsui Jet No.1” (Boeing 747-400, registration: JA8907) and “Matsui Jet No.2” (Airbus A300-600, registration: JA8377), themed on Hideki Matsui, who at the time played for the New York Yankees and entered service in 2003. (Matsui Jet No.2 was initially operated by Japan Air System.)
On the final day of operations, the aircraft was assigned to four flights: JL507 from Tokyo/Haneda to Sapporo/Chitose departing at 8:50 a.m., JL508 from Sapporo/Chitose to Tokyo/Haneda departing at 11:25 a.m., JL323 from Tokyo/Haneda to Fukuoka departing at 3:25 p.m., and JL326 from Fukuoka to Tokyo/Haneda departing at 6:20 p.m. On board, a special boarding announcement by Shohei Ohtani was played only for the final day, and MLB-themed paper cups that had been used in the early period of DREAM SHO JET’s service were also brought back.
Among these, flight JL323, which was the final departure from Tokyo/Haneda, carried 245 passengers including one infant. It left spot 11 at 3:26 p.m. and took off from runway D at 3:43 p.m. At the departure gate, a life-size panel of Shohei Ohtani was on display, and signage announced the final day of operations. JAL employees holding a banner waved the passengers off.
According to JAL, the aircraft that has completed its service in this livery will depart Tokyo/Haneda at 2:40 a.m. on June 11 and head to Xiamen for heavy maintenance. There, it will be repainted in the standard JAL livery and is expected to return to Japan in early July.
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