Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL), one of Japan's major carriers, has its headquarters in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita and Haneda airports, with secondary hubs at Osaka's Kansai and Itami airports. JAL is a member of the Oneworld alliance, and its group includes several regional carriers as well as the low-cost airlines Zipair Tokyo and Jetstar Japan.

Travel + Leisure readers ranked JAL No. 5 among international airlines in 2025, with a reader score of 89.53, and No. 6 in 2026. AirlineRatings.com placed it No. 7 among full-service carriers for 2025 and No. 6 for 2026. Skytrax listed it No. 9 in the World's Top 100 Airlines in both 2025 and 2026.

The airline was founded on 1 August 1951 to help Japan rebuild its air links after the Second World War, and it became the national airline in 1953. It was fully privatised in 1987 and merged with Japan Air System in 2002. JAL went bankrupt in 2010 after the financial crisis, was restructured and returned to the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2011. Today the group flies to 220 destinations in 35 countries, including codeshares, with a fleet of 279 aircraft.

Sources of this text: Wikipedia · AirlineRatings.com · Travel + Leisure · Skytrax