On June 10, Japan Airlines (JAL) retired operations of its special livery aircraft “DREAM SHO JET” (Airbus A350-900, registration: JA08XJ), featuring Shohei Ohtani of Major League Baseball (MLB)’s Los Angeles Dodgers.
DREAM SHO JET entered service on September 29, 2024, as part of the “DREAM MILES PASS” project, which supports young people pursuing their dreams. On the left side of the fuselage, the design prominently depicted Ohtani wearing a helmet, while on the right side he was shown with a glove, both images emphasizing his “two-way” prowess as a pitcher and batter on the rear fuselage. A total of 90 decals—45 on each side—were used, with the design area measuring approximately 5 meters high and 19 meters long per side. From its launch until the end of May this year, the aircraft operated on 2,720 flights over about one year and eight months, accumulating a total flight time of 4,040 hours and 56 minutes.
On the final day of operations, the aircraft completed one round trip each on the Tokyo/Haneda–Sapporo/Chitose route and the Tokyo/Haneda–Fukuoka route, with commemorative events held at each airport. On board, a special passenger announcement voiced by Shohei Ohtani was played exclusively for the final day, and MLB-themed paper cups that had been used in the early period of DREAM SHO JET operations were brought back.
The final flight, JL326 from Fukuoka to Tokyo/Haneda, carried 343 passengers. It departed Fukuoka at 6:26 p.m. and took off at 6:41 p.m. The aircraft landed on Runway A at Tokyo/Haneda at 7:53 p.m. and arrived at Spot 11 at 7:59 p.m. On the ground, about 30 people, including flight crew, cabin crew, maintenance engineers, ground staff, ground handling staff, and employees from back-office departments, welcomed the arrival.
According to JAL, the total number of passengers who flew on DREAM SHO JET reached approximately 900,000 by the final flight. A project representative commented, “Many people took photos and posted them on social media, and the aircraft became widely beloved. We could truly feel how seeing an airplane featuring Shohei Ohtani flying across Japan’s skies brought smiles and energy to so many people.”
The aircraft, having completed its special livery operations, is scheduled to depart Tokyo/Haneda at 2:40 a.m. on June 11 for Xiamen, where heavy maintenance will be carried out. After being repainted in the standard JAL livery there, it is expected to return to Japan in early July.
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This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
