The JAL order ensures a foothold for the MAX with Japan’s flagship carrier as Boeing strives to undermine Airbus’s lead in the narrow body planes market. File Photo.
Tokyo: Japan Airlines has placed its first-ever order for the Boeing 737 MAX, as it announced a plan on Thursday to buy 21 planes to replenish its fleet.
The civil aviation deal is worth at least $2.5 billion at list prices. It is also being billed as a victory for Boeing against European competitor Airbus, which was in talks with JAL on the bestselling A320neo narrow body jet.
JAL President Yuji Akasaka has said that the company intended to bring the new planes into its fleet from 2026. The range and fuel efficiency of the 737 MAX will reduce carbon emissions by 15% compared to the planes they are replacing, he said. “I believe this is a very high potential aircraft,” Akasaka said.
The JAL order ensures a foothold for the MAX with Japan’s flagship carrier as Boeing strives to undermine Airbus’s lead in the narrow body planes market.
Although JAL predominantly operates Boeing planes, it delivered a shock to the aircraft industry in 2013 when it opted to buy Airbus’s A350 wide body aircraft over the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, which at the time was struggling to correct technical problems.
While JAL’s current fleet of 48 Dreamliners now dwarfs the 11 A350s owned by the carrier, the initial Airbus order raised questions about whether Boeing would continue to dominate the Japanese market.
Those concerns were heightened by the 737 MAX crisis, which led All Nippon Airways to delay finalizing an order for 20 MAXs first announced in January 2019. ANA and Boeing concluded the MAX deal in July.
The Boeing 737-800 currently makes up the largest portion of JAL’s narrow body fleet, with the carrier owning 47 jets and leasing another 17 737s, according to JAL.
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