Japan Airlines’ first Airbus A350-1000 has begun commercial operations between Tokyo’s Haneda airport and New York, and the airline is looking to grow the number of North American cities served by the widebody twin.

At around 11:40 local time on 24 January, the aircraft (JA01WJ) took off from Haneda as flight JL6, and will fly more than 12h to New York’s John F Kennedy airport.

JAL A350-1000

Source: Airbus

JAL took delivery of its first A350-1000 in December 2023

On its social media pages, JAL says it is “planning to” fly between Haneda and Dallas-Fort Worth “in the future”, but did not specify a timeline.

JAL took delivery of its first A350-1000 aircraft on 15 December. The widebody, which is set to be JAL’s new flagship, is configured to seat 239 passengers across four classes.

The Oneworld carrier has total orders for 13 A350-1000s, which are to replace its 13 Boeing 777-300ERs. It expects to take delivery of a second example by March.

The launch flight follows a fatal accident between another JAL A350, a -900, and a Japan Coast Guard turboprop on 2 January. The widebody was destroyed by fire after colliding with the De Havilland Canada Dash 8 while landing at Haneda.

All passengers on the A350 safely evacuated the aircraft, but the accident left five of six Coast Guard crew members dead. 

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