JAL Unveils the 8th Airbus A350-1000 Aircraft

Japan Airlines (JAL) has released photographs of its eighth Airbus A350-1000 aircraft (registration number: JA08WJ).

The aircraft departed from Airbus’s factory in Toulouse, France, at 2:17 p.m. local time on December 6, and arrived at Haneda Airport on the following day, December 7, at 11:25 a.m.

It is the seventh aircraft to be received out of the 13 ordered. Although it was supposed to be the seventh aircraft (JA07WJ) to be delivered next according to the original order, the 8th aircraft was received first due to changes in the assembly schedule at Airbus.

The Airbus A350-1000 is the successor to the Boeing 777-300ER, and commenced service on January 24. Currently, it is being used for two round trips per day on the Tokyo/Haneda-New York/John F. Kennedy route, one round trip per day on the Tokyo/Haneda-Dallas/Fort Worth route, and every other day on the Tokyo/Haneda-London/Heathrow route.

The cabin is configured with 239 seats in four classes, featuring 6 first class seats in a ‘1-1-1’ layout, 54 business class seats in a ‘1-2-1’ layout, 24 premium economy seats in a ‘2-4-2’ layout, and 155 economy class seats in a ‘3-3-3’ layout. Both first class and business class have introduced suite-type seats with doors for the first time in JAL, and the in-flight entertainment (IFE) systems in all classes are equipped with 4K resolution monitors that can connect via Bluetooth to wireless headphones.

JAL plans to have eight A350-1000 aircraft in its fleet by the end of this fiscal year, and it is expected that the 7th aircraft, whose delivery has been swapped, will be airlifted to Haneda Airport soon.