Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has given its approval for Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. to conduct the first flight of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ). The clearance was the final regulatory hurdle before the MRJ’s first flight could take place. After repeated delays, the MRJ’s first flight is now scheduled for the week of Nov. 9. Mitsubi...
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) today jointly announced that the companies have changed the first flight schedule of the first flight test aircraft of the MRJ(Mitsubishi Regional Jet), their next-generation regional jet, because of the need for repair of its rudder pedal. The first flight, which was originally scheduled to take place between Octo...
Japan Airlines (JAL) announced today that it will be serving Champagne Salon 2004 in First Class on all international routes from November 16, 2015, which is in advance of Champagne Salon's own global distribution planned to start from next spring. Japan Airlines has been offering Champagne Salon to its First Class customers since December 2007, and JAL is the only airline in the world...
Jetstar Japan, the largest low-cost air carrier (LCC) in Japan, said Wednesday that it will launch direct flights from the Japanese cities of Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya to Taipei from Nov. 27 to tap into the Taiwan market. Jetstar Japan will introduce the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport-Tokyo Narita route Nov. 28, the Osaka route Dec. 11 and the Nagoya route Dec. 13. The budget carrier sai...
Ahead of scheduled services on Oct. 18, 2015, All Nippon Airways' Star Wars-themed Boeing 787 Dreamliner took its first ride with Star Wars fans over Haneda, Tokyo on Oct. 17, marking the first passenger flight of R2-D2™ Jet. Cosplayers, dressed up as their favorite characters from "Star Wars", line to board the ANA 787 (Registration JA873A) named the "R2-D2 ANA JE...
AirAsia Japan will build up its fleet to 20 aircraft over four years, President Yoshinori Odagiri said Friday, with the low-cost carrier aiming to eventually serve the Chinese coast. The airline, whose owners include Malaysia-based AirAsia and Japanese virtual mall giant Rakuten, is slated to begin operations next spring. It will start out with three routes: domestic service linking N...
The transport ministry will start trial operations of full-body scanners from Thursday at Kansai Airport, with further trials later at the Narita and Haneda airports in the Tokyo area. Full-body scanners use radio waves to reveal items concealed under passengers' clothing, and are being used to prevent hazardous materials from being brought onto airplanes. The equipment is seen as a pote...
Mitsubishi Aircraft hopes the first flight later this month of Japan's first small passenger plane in 50 years will drive interest among prospective customers, especially in Europe, where it has yet to win any buyers. The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries subsidiary is building the Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ), with just under 100 seats, taking on a market served by Bombardier and Embraer. Th...
A small plane involved in a near-miss incident with a Japan Airlines Co. jet in southern Kyushu on Saturday misunderstood landing permission given by a traffic controller, the transport ministry said Monday. The controller instructed the JAL jet to land first and the small plane to follow, but the pilot of the small plane apparently mistook another plane for the JAL jet and tried to land b...
A Japan Airlines Co. jet had a near-miss incident with a small plane in southern Kyushu on Saturday, the transport ministry said Sunday. Nobody was injured in the incident that occurred between a JAL Boeing 767 and a BN2B Islander operated by New Japan Aviation Co. just over 5 km southeast of Kagoshima airport. The distance between the planes at the time of the incident was not immediat...
The Japanese government is to begin enforcing new regulations surrounding the use of unmanned air vehicles in national airspace in December, with its action having been prompted by a threat to its prime minister last April. A DJI Phantom UAV (similar to those pictured below) carrying radiation landed on the rooftop of Shinzo Abe’s residence, triggering the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCA...
AirAsia Japan Co., Ltd. (CEO: Yoshinori Odagiri) today announced that the airline has been granted the Air Operator’s Certificate by the Civil Aeronautics Act by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, under the air transport business, Japanese Aviation Law Article 100. AirAsia Japan is scheduled to commence operations from their base at Chubu Centrair International Airpo...