Japan Air System

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Japan Air System Co., Ltd. (JAS) (日本エアシステム, Nihon Ea Shisutemu^?) (IATA: JD, ICAO: JAS, and Callsign: Air System) was the smallest of the big three Japanese airlines, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo.^[1] In contrast to JAL and ANA, its international route network was very small, but its domestic network incorporated many smaller airports that were not served by the two larger airlines.

JAS was famous for its variety of aircraft liveries; Amy Chavez of The Japan Times described the rainbow liveries as "abstract." Many of its color schemes in the 1990s were designed by film director Akira Kurosawa.^[2]

The airline's slogan was "Good Speed Always."

Contents 1 History 1.1 Formation 1.2 Start of international service 1.3 Boeing 777 livery design contest 1.4 Merge with Japan Airlines 2 Destinations 2.1 Domestic 2.1.1 Kantō Region 2.1.2 Kansai Region 2.1.3 Chūbu region 2.1.4 Tohoku Region 2.1.5 Chugoku Region 2.1.6 Hokkaidō 2.1.7 Kyūshū 2.1.8 Shikoku 2.1.9 Ryukyu Islands 2.2 International 2.2.1 People's Republic of China 2.2.2 South Korea 2.2.3 Singapore 2.2.4 United States 3 Fleet 4 Subsidiaries 5 Credit cards 6 Accidents and incidents 7 Special liveries 8 References 9 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Formation

The company was originally formed as Toa Domestic Airlines (東亜国内航空, Tōa Kokunai Kōkū^?) (TDA) in a merger between Toa Airways and Japan Domestic Airlines on May 15, 1971. On April 1, 1988 the current name Japan Air System (JAS) was taken.^[1]

[edit] Start of international service

In 1990 Japan Air System began service from Narita to Seoul, South Korea. In 1995 the airline had 99 domestic routes, some international routes, 64 offices in Japan, one office in Seoul, and one office in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.^[1]

[edit] Boeing 777 livery design contest

In 1996, Japan Air System held a contest for designing the livery of the Boeing 777.^[3] The youngest entrant was three years of age while the oldest was 84.^[4] A total of 10,364 participants from 42 countries submitted entries.^[5][4] The judges included Akira Kurosawa, Masuo Ikeda, Kenshi Hirokane, Yoshiko Sakurai, and Yusuke Kaji (梶 祐輔, Kaji Yūsuke^?).^[4] 13 year-old Masatomo Watanabe (渡部 真丈, Watanabe Masatomo^?), a male second year (Grade 8) junior high school student living near Chitose Airport, won the award.^[6]

The Japan Air System Boeing 777, painted in Watanabe's design, premiered in April 1997 to comemorate the 25th anniversary of Japan Air System.^[7]

[edit] Merge with Japan Airlines

In 2001, JAS agreed to merge with JAL.

On October 2, 2002, JAS and JAL established a new holding company which was called Japan Airlines System (日本航空システム, Nihon Kōkū Shisutemu^?) and they were reborn as the new Japan Airlines (JAL) group. Airplane liveries were changed to match the design of the new JAL group. At that time, the new JAL group was the sixth largest in the world by passengers carried and the third largest measured by revenue.

On April 1, 2004, Japan Airlines (old JAL) changed its name to Japan Airlines International and Japan Air System (JAS) changed its name to Japan Airlines Domestic. Japan Airlines System was renamed to Japan Airlines Corporation to make the most of the JAL brand. At the same time, all JAS flight codes, check-in desks and plane were unified into JAL, and the Japan Air System brand officially ceased to exist.

At the time of its integration into JAL, JAS was operating Airbus A300, Boeing 777, and McDonnell Douglas MD-90 aircraft among others.

[edit] Destinations

[edit] Domestic

[edit] Kantō Region

• Chiba Prefecture
  • Narita (New Tokyo International Airport^[8])
• Tokyo
  • Ota, Tokyo (Tokyo International Airport)^{[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]}

[edit] Kansai Region

• Hyogo Prefecture
  • Osaka International Airport (partially in Hyogo Prefecture and partially in Osaka Prefecture)^{[9][10][11][12][14]}
  • Toyooka (Tajima Airport)^[15]
• Osaka Prefecture
  • Osaka (Osaka International Airport (partially in Hyogo Prefecture and partially in Osaka Prefecture) and Kansai International Airport^{[17][10][11][12][14]})
• Wakayama Prefecture
  • Shirahama (Nanki-Shirahama Airport)^[14]

[edit] Chūbu region

• Aichi Prefecture
  • Nagoya (Nagoya International Airport)^[10][12]
• Ishikawa Prefecture
  • Komatsu^[14]
• Nagano Prefecture
  • Matsumoto^[10]
• Niigata Prefecture
  • Niigata^[16]

[edit] Tohoku Region

• Akita Prefecture
  • Akita^[11][12]
• Aomori Prefecture
  • Aomori^{[10][11][12][14]}
  • Misawa^[11][12][14]
• Iwate Prefecture
  • Hanamaki^{[9][10][11][12]}
• Miyagi Prefecture
  • Sendai^[10][12][13]
• Yamagata Prefecture
  • Yamagata^[11][12]

[edit] Chugoku Region

• Hiroshima Prefecture
  • Hiroshima^[11][13][14]
• Okayama Prefecture
  • Okayama^[13]
• Shimane Prefecture
  • Izumo^[13][14]

[edit] Hokkaidō

• Asahikawa^[11][14]
• Kushiro^[11][14]
• Memanbetsu (now Ozora)^[11][14]
• Obihiro^[11][14]
• Sapporo (New Chitose Airport)^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

[edit] Kyūshū

• Fukuoka Prefecture
  • Fukuoka^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]}
  • Kitakyūshū^[10][14]
• Kagoshima Prefecture
  • Kagoshima^[17][10][14]
• Kumamoto Prefecture
  • Kumamoto^[10][14]
• Miyazaki Prefecture
  • Miyazaki^[10][14]
• Nagasaki Prefecture
  • Nagasaki^[10][14]
• Oita Prefecture
  • Oita^[10][14]

[edit] Shikoku

• Ehime Prefecture
  • Matsuyama^[10][13]
• Kagawa Prefecture
  • Takamatsu^[12][13][14]
• Kochi Prefecture
  • Kochi^[13][14]
• Tokushima Prefecture
  • Tokushima^[13][14]

[edit] Ryukyu Islands

• Kagoshima Prefecture
  • Amami Ōshima^[9][10][14]
  • Tokunoshima^[9][10]
• Okinawa Prefecture
  • Naha, Okinawa Island (Naha Airport)^[9][12][14]

[edit] International

[edit] People's Republic of China

• Guangzhou^[17][18]
• Hong Kong^[17][18]
• Kunming^[17][18]
• Xian^[8][18]

[edit] South Korea

• Seoul^[17][18]

[edit] Singapore

• Singapore (Closed prior to JAS's dissolution)^[19]

[edit] United States

• Hawaii
  • Honolulu (Closed prior to JAS's dissolution)^[19]

[edit] Fleet

• Airbus A300 family^[14]
  • A300-B2^[20]
  • A300-600R^[20]
• Boeing 777-200^[14][21]
• McDonnell Douglas MD-80/MD-90 family
  • MD-81^[20]
  • MD-87^[14][20]
  • MD-90^[14][20]
• Douglas DC-9^[21][22](Retired prior to the merge with JAL)
• Douglas DC-10 ^[23] (Retired prior to the merge with JAL)
• NAMC YS-11 (later moved to subsidiary airlines)

[edit] Subsidiaries

^[24]

• Japan Air Commuter
• Hokkaido Air System
• Harlequin Air^[25]

[edit] Credit cards

In association with VISA, Mastercard, and Japan Credit Bureau JAS had "JAS Card" credit cards. In addition JAS had "Sky Merit" cards.^[26]

[edit] Accidents and incidents

• July 3, 1971: A NAMC YS-11A owned by Toa Domestic Airlines crashed into terrain, killing all 68 occupants.[1]

[edit] Special liveries

Japan Air System, for a period, painted a Douglas DC-10 in a Peter Pan color scheme.^[23]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Archives of http://www.jas.co.jp/e_jashom.htm
• Archives of http://www.jas.co.jp/eng/index.htm
• Archives of http://www.jas.co.jp
• Gallery of JAS liveries
• A tale of many tails: the merger of Japan Airlines and Japan Air System makes perfect business sense, but commonality of equipment is a different matter.

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