Japan Airlines to Introduce New In-Flight Service and Seats on Long-Haul Flights

Japan Airlines (JAL) has launched the JAL New Sky Project, a thorough revamp of its in-flight products and services on international routes under the collective theme ‘Welcome! JAL New Sky’.

In the first phase of the project, Japan Airlines will introduce a sweeping change called JAL Sky Suite 777 to the seat designs in every cabin class on 13 of its Boeing 777-300ER widebodies. The JAL Sky Suite 777 service will be indicated in JAL’s flight timetables as ‘SS7’.

JAL will first deploy the new seat designs on its daily Tokyo Narita-London Heathrow route from January. The carrier will then progressively expand the new seating revamp on to other European and North American routes, such its Narita-New York JFK service.

This is the JAL Suite, introduced from January 2013 in the First Class cabins of Japan Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ERs

In First Class, Japan Airlines will introduce the JAL Suite. This will provide a flat-bed seat with a length of approximately 78.5 inches (199 centimeters) and a maximum bed width of 33in (84cm). JAL Suites will be installed a 1-2-1 seat-row configuration and there will be eight per Boeing 777-300ER.

Each JAL Suite will also offer a personal TV screen enlarged by 20 per cent from 19in to 23in; refined wood-grain finishing, meant to evoke an ambience similar to that of a personal study or bedroom; a newly introduced liquid-crystal (LCD) touch-panel hand-held controller; and Tempur bedding to help provide a deeply relaxing sleep.

In Business Class, the airline will provide JAL Sky Suites in a 2-3-2 row configuration, each 777-300ER featuring 49 of the flat-bed seats. Maximum bed length is approximately 74in (188cm), with a maximum bed width of 25.5in (65cm) and a bed width of 21in (53cm) at the base of the bed.

Each JAL Sky Suite will feature unobstructed aisle access for every seat; (on request) innovative airweave S-Line mattresses and airweave S-Line pillows from Weava Japan Inc, made from very fine woven fiber resin; and 23-inch personal TV screens, almost 50 per cent larger than those for the airline’s current JAL Shell Flat Neo business-class seats.

Additionally, each JAL Sky Suite seat will have a large swivel table for more flexibility in movement, along with ample storage space for various items; and a newly introduced liquid-crystal (LCD) touch-panel hand-held controller.

This is the JAL Sky Premium seat, a bigger, longer-legroom seat introduced from January 2013 into the Premium Economy cabins of JAL’s 777-300ERs

In Premium Economy, Japan Airlines will install JAL Sky Premium seats in a 2-4-2 row configuration, with 40 seats per aircraft. Seat pitch will be approximately 42in (107cm) and seat width between the armrests will be approximately 19in (48cm).

Each JAL Sky Premium seat will feature a seat-pitch increase of as much as 4in (10 cm), providing more leg-space; an increased seat-slide of up to 2.8in (7cm); and a 12.1-inch personal touch-panel TV screen, 35 per cent wider than JAL’s previous Premium Economy product;

JAL Sky Premium seats will also retain the fixed-seat-back feature of the predecessor seat, providing the same undisturbed space even when a passenger seated in front reclines. Each row will also offer center dividers between seats at head level to provide greater privacy, with each seat also offering a three-step adjustable footrest.

In Economy Class, Japan Airlines will install new JAL Sky Wider seats, each 777-300ER featuring 135 of the seats and with each seat row installed in a 3-3-3 seat configuration. Seat pitch will vary from 33in (84cm) to 34in (36cm), which is 3in or 7cm longer than JAL’s current 777-300ER economy-class seat pitch, and the width of each seat between the armrests will be approximately 18.5in (47cm).

This is the JAL Sky Wider seat, a larger and longer-seat-pitch economy seat which features from January 13 in the Economy Class cabins of Japan Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ERs

Each JAL Sky Wider seat will feature a specially slimmed seat back that adds up to more than 1in (3cm) of additional space at knee level; and each seat will be 0.8in (2cm) wider than the carrier’s previous economy-class seats.

The seats’ 10.6-inch personal TV screens will be larger even than those in JAL’s earlier Premium Economy seats. Each seatback has been designed with a netted bottle holder and a conveniently placed smartphone holder near the USB port.

JAL will also fitting Toto Washlets in the First and Business Class lavatories. The Toto Washlet is an electronic toilet seat featuring a water-jet function for washing.

Japan Airlines has repainted all of its Boeing 777s in its new livery, which reprises JAL’s classic ‘Flying Crane’ logo and looks like JAL’s most famous and popular livery of past decades. This is a Boeing 777-200ER in the carrier’s new colors

In its comprehensive overall renewal of Boeing 7777-300ER in-flight service, JAL will also be introducing  new menus on flights to Europe, North America, Australia and South East Asia, as it aims to create the ambience of an exclusive restaurant in the sky.

Japan Airlines brought a team of four Japanese star chefs together to design JAL’s new First and Business Class menus, using only the freshest and finest-ingredients. The airline has named its new First and Business Class service product ‘JAL BEDD’ to represent the comforts of the fully flat-bed seats and also to stand for ‘Dine’, ‘Delicious’ and ‘Dreams’.

In the airline’s new JAL Kitchen Gallery service, Premium Economy and Economy Class customers will be offered a wide range of seasonal delicacies from throughout Japan as well as JAL’s “AIR Series” of innovative meals created in collaboration with well-known Japanese restaurants.