Japan Air System

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. It adopted the Japan Air System (JAS) name on April 1, 1988.

Start of international service

In 1988, Japan Air System began service from Narita to Seoul, South Korea, and Taiwan, and by 1993 JAS was also flying to Singapore, Honolulu and Indonesia. In 1995 the airline had 99 domestic routes, some international routes, 64 offices in Japan, one office in Seoul, South Korea, and one office in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.

JAS entered into a partnership with Northwest Airlines in 1999 following several years of negotiations, allowing Northwest to codeshare on JAS domestic routes from Kansai Airport in Osaka and JAS to codeshare on Northwest flights between Japan and the US. On Northwest's fifth freedom flights between Japan and Asia, JAS was limited to codesharing on Northwest routes that JAS also had the authority to fly, such as Tokyo-Seoul.

Boeing 777 livery design contest

In 1996, Japan Air System held a contest for designing the livery of the Boeing 777. The youngest entrant was three years of age while the oldest was 84. A total of 10,364 participants from 42 countries submitted entries. The judges included Akira Kurosawa, Masuo Ikeda, Kenshi Hirokane, Yoshiko Sakurai, and Yusuke Kaji (梶 祐輔, Kaji Yūsuke). Thirteen-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. The Japan Air System Boeing 777, painted in Watanabe's design, premiered in April 1997 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Japan Air System.

Merger with Japan Airlines

JAS and Japan Airlines announced their merger in November 2001. It was the first major airline industry realignment in Japan in three decades, and partly a consequence of the slump in worldwide air traffic following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. At the time, JAL had only a 25% share of the Japanese domestic air travel market, half that of rival All Nippon Airways, and saw the merger as a means of providing stronger competition to ANA domestically.

JAS and JAL prepared an integrated timetable in August 2002. On October 2, 2002, they established a new holding company, Japan Airlines System (日本航空システム, Nihon Kōkū Shisutemu), with Isao Kaneko as CEO. A new "Arc of the Sun" livery for the JAL group was announced in September 2002 and the first aircraft with the livery rolled out in November. On April 1, 2004, Japan Airlines changed its name to Japan Airlines International and Japan Air System changed its name to Japan Airlines Domestic (日本航空国内線, Nihon Kōkū Kokunaisen), officially ending the JAS brand. Japan Airlines Domestic was merged with Japan Airlines International on October 1, 2006, and disappeared both in name and reality.

At the time of its integration into JAL, JAS operated the Airbus A300, Boeing 777, MD-80 and MD-90. Most continued flying as part of the JAL fleet, but three A300s were scrapped at Sendai Airport in 2002, while two others were transferred to Fly Air in Turkey.

Subsidiaries

Japan Air System had the following subsidiaries:

Japan Air Commuter

Hokkaido Air System

Harlequin Air

Domestic

Japan

Greater Tokyo Area

Tokyo

Osaka

Accidents and incidents

July 3, 1971, Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 63: A NAMC YS-11A owned by Toa Domestic Airlines crashed into terrain, killing all 68 occupants.

May 25, 1975: A NAMC YS-11A (JA8680) had a hydraulic oil leak and forced the crew to return to Osaka. During landing, one of the tires blew causing the aircraft to veer off the runway. The aircraft crossed a sod area and a drainage ditch. The cause of the oil leak was a loose connection of the hydraulic line in the left flap well.

April 18, 1993, Japan Air System Flight 451: A McDonnell Douglas DC-9-41, flying from Nagoya to Hanamaki, crashed after the aircraft, caught by wind shear, skidded off of the runway. All of the passengers and crew survived.

January 1, 2004, Japan Air System Flight 979: A McDonnell Douglas MD-81 (JA8297) sustained substantial damage in a landing gear accident at Tokunoshima. On landing, the aircraft's left main landing gear collapsed during rollout and its left wing tip contacted the ground. The aircraft came to a stop on the runway. Three passengers were slightly injured.