Japan Air System

Japan Air System
日本エアシステム

IATA JD ICAO JAS Callsign AIR SYSTEM
Founded	April 15, 1964 (as Japan Domestic Airlines)
Ceased operations	October 1, 2006 (merged into Japan Airlines)
Hubs	Tokyo Haneda Airport Osaka Itami Airport
Secondary hubs	Fukuoka Airport Nagoya Airport New Chitose Airport
Focus cities	Kansai International Airport Narita International Airport
Frequent-flyer program	JAS Mileage Service
Airport lounge	Rainbow Lounge
Subsidiaries	Japan Air Commuter Hokkaido Air System Harlequin Air
Fleet size	85
Destinations	46
Company slogan	Good Speed Always
Parent company	Japan Air System Co., Ltd.
Headquarters	Haneda Airport, Tokyo, Japan
Website	www.jas.co.jp

The JAL Maintenance Center, formerly the corporate headquarters (JAS M1 Building)

Mori Building 37 in Tokyo, where JAS once had its headquarters

Japan Air System A300-600R

A Japan Air System MD-87 aircraft

A Japan Air System MD90 with an Akira Kurosawa paint scheme

Japan Air System Co., Ltd. (JAS) (日本エアシステム, Nihon Ea Shisutemu^?) (IATA: JD, ICAO: JAS, Call sign: Air System) was the smallest of the big three Japanese airlines, headquartered in the JAS M1 Building at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) 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. It has since merged with Japan 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".

History

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.^[1]

In the 1970s through mid-1990s Toa (commonly known as TDA,later JAS) was headquartered in the Mori Building (森ビル, Mori Biru^?) in Toranomon, Minato, Tokyo.^[3][4][5]

On April 1, 1988 the current name Japan Air System (JAS) was taken.^[1]

Start of international service

In 1988 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]

Boeing 777 livery design contest

13-year old Masatomo Watanabe designed the livery of the Japan Air System Boeing 777

JAS MD-90 and 777 aircraft

JAS A300-600R with JAL logo on the body

In 1996, Japan Air System held a contest for designing the livery of the Boeing 777.^[6] The youngest entrant was three years of age while the oldest was 84.^[7] A total of 10,364 participants from 42 countries submitted entries.^[7][8] The judges included Akira Kurosawa, Masuo Ikeda, Kenshi Hirokane, Yoshiko Sakurai, and Yusuke Kaji (梶 祐輔, Kaji Yūsuke^?).^[7] 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.^[9]

The Japan Air System Boeing 777, painted in Watanabe's design, premiered in April 1997 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Japan Air System.^[10]

Merge with Japan Airlines

In 2001, JAS agreed to merge with JAL.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

Destinations Prior to Merger

Domestic

Kantō region

• Chiba Prefecture
  • Narita International Airport^[11]
• Tokyo Metropolis
  • Ota, Tokyo (Tokyo International Airport)^{[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]}

Kansai region

• Osaka Prefecture
  • Osaka International Airport (partially in Osaka Prefecture and partially in Hyogo Prefecture) and Kansai International Airport^{[13][14][15][17][20]}
• Hyogo Prefecture
  • Toyooka (Tajima Airport)^[18]
• Wakayama Prefecture
  • Nanki-Shirahama Airport^[17]

Chūbu region

• Aichi Prefecture
  • Nagoya International Airport^[13][15]
• Ishikawa Prefecture
  • Komatsu^[17]
• Nagano Prefecture
  • Matsumoto^[13]
• Niigata Prefecture
  • Niigata^[19]

Tohoku region

• Akita Prefecture
  • Akita^[14][15]
• Aomori Prefecture
  • Aomori^{[13][14][15][17]}
  • Misawa^[14][15][17]
• Iwate Prefecture
  • Hanamaki^{[12][13][14][15]}
• Miyagi Prefecture
  • Sendai^[13][15][16]
• Yamagata Prefecture
  • Yamagata^[14][15]

Chugoku region

• Hiroshima Prefecture
  • Hiroshima^[14][16][17]
• Okayama Prefecture
  • Okayama^[16]
• Shimane Prefecture
  • Izumo^[16][17]

Hokkaidō

• Asahikawa^[14][17]
• Kushiro^[14][17]
• Memanbetsu (now Ozora)^[14][17]
• Obihiro^[14][17]
• Sapporo (New Chitose Airport)^{[13][14][15][16][17]}

Kyūshū

• Fukuoka Prefecture
  • Fukuoka^{[12][13][14][15][16][17]}
  • Kitakyūshū^[13][17]
• Kagoshima Prefecture
  • Kagoshima^[13][17][20]
• Kumamoto Prefecture
  • Kumamoto^[13][17]
• Miyazaki Prefecture
  • Miyazaki^[13][17]
• Nagasaki Prefecture
  • Nagasaki^[13][17]
• Oita Prefecture
  • Oita^[13][17]

Shikoku

• Ehime Prefecture
  • Matsuyama^[13][16]
• Kagawa Prefecture
  • Takamatsu^[15][16][17]
• Kōchi Prefecture
  • Kōchi^[16][17]
• Tokushima Prefecture
  • Tokushima^[16][17]

Ryukyu Islands

• Kagoshima Prefecture
  • Amami Ōshima^[12][13][17]
  • Tokunoshima^[12][13]
• Okinawa Prefecture
  • Naha, Okinawa Island (Naha Airport)^[12][15][17]

International

People's Republic of China

• Guangzhou^[20][21]
• Hong Kong^[20][21]
• Kunming^[20][21]
• Xi'an^[11][21]

South Korea

• Seoul^[20][21]

Singapore

• Singapore (closed prior to JAS's dissolution)^[22]

United States

• Hawaii
  • Honolulu (Closed prior to JAS's dissolution)^[22]

Fleet

• Airbus A300 family^[17]
  • A300-B2^[23]
  • A300-600R^[23]
• Boeing 777-200^[17][24]
• McDonnell Douglas MD-80/MD-90 family
  • MD-81^[23]
  • MD-87^[17][23]
  • MD-90^[17][23]
• Douglas DC-9^[24][25](Retired prior to the merge with JAL)
• Douglas DC-10 ^[26] (Retired prior to the merge with JAL, sold to Northwest Airlines)
• NAMC YS-11 (later moved to subsidiary airlines)

Subsidiaries

^[27]

• Japan Air Commuter
• Hokkaido Air System
• Harlequin Air^[28]

Credit cards

In association with VISA, Mastercard, and Japan Credit Bureau JAS had "JAS Card" credit cards. In addition JAS had "Sky Merit" cards.^[29]

Accidents and incidents

• July 3, 1971, Toa Domestic Airlines Flight 533: A NAMC YS-11A owned by Toa Domestic Airlines crashed into terrain, killing all 68 occupants.^[30][31]
• April 18, 1993, Japan Air System Flight 451: A Douglas DC-9-41 of Japan Air System, flying from Nagoya to Hanamaki, crashed after the aircraft, caught by windshear, skidded off of the runway. All of the passengers and crew survived.^[32]

Special liveries

Japan Air System, for a period, painted a Douglas DC-10 in a Peter Pan color scheme.^[26]

See also

	Tokyo portal
	Companies portal
	Aviation portal

• List of defunct airlines

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} "COMPANY INFORMATION." Japan Air System. November 6, 1999. Retrieved on January 13, 2009.
2. ^ Chavez, Amy. "Japan takes flight." The Japan Times. December 23, 2008. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
3. ^ "World Airline Directory". Flight International. March 20, 1975. "505.
4. ^ "World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 23–29, 1994. "Japan Air System" 95.
5. ^ "Introduction to JAS." Japan Air System. November 7, 1996. Retrieved on January 7, 2011. "No. 37 Mori Bldg., 3-5-1 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan." Address in Japanese: "東京都港区虎ノ門三丁目５番１号（第37森ビル）"
6. ^ "The Boeing Company and Japan." Boeing. July 5, 2007. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
7. ^ ^{a b c} "JAS [B777] Rainbow Design Competition." Japan Air System. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
8. ^ "The course of the competition." Japan Air System. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
9. ^ "It was a 13-year-old boy who gave JAS a fantastic present!." Japan Air System. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
10. ^ "Rainbow Design Competition/Presenting the result." Japan Air System. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
11. ^ ^{a b} "INTERNATIONAL TIMETABLE OCTOBER 1 - 31,1999."
12. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "Month : 2001/2/1 - 2001/3/31 OKINAWA/AMAMIISLAND AREA." Japan Air System.
13. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r} "Month : 2001/2/1 - 2001/3/31 KYUSYU AREA." Japan Air System.
14. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} "Month: 2001/2/1 - 2001/3/31 HOKKAIDO AREA." Japan Air System.
15. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} "Month : 2001/2/1 - 2001/3/31 TOHOKU AREA." Japan Air System.
16. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} "Month: 2001/2/1 - 2001/3/31 CHUGOKU/SHIKOKU AREA." Japan Air System.
17. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac} "Month: 2001/2/1 - 2001/3/31 KANTO AREA." Japan Air System.
18. ^ ^{a b} "Month: 2000/12/22 - 2001/1/8 KANSAI/KINKI AREA." Japan Air System.
19. ^ ^{a b} "Month: 2000/12/22 - 2001/1/8 CHUBU/HOKURIKU AREA." Japan Air System.
20. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "JAS International Timetable NOVEMBER 1,1999- MARCH 25,2000." Japan Air System.
21. ^ ^{a b c d e} "International Flight Information (Effective October 29, 2000?`March 24, 2001)." Japan Air System.
22. ^ ^{a b} "COMPANY NEWS; Japanese Give Boeing $820 Million Order." The New York Times. June 30, 1993.
23. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Photo Gallery." Japan Air System.
24. ^ ^{a b} "Japan Air System Accepts its First Pratt-Powered 777." PR Newswire.
25. ^ "Gallery" (November 7, 1996). Japan Air System.
26. ^ ^{a b} Airliner Color History: McDonnell Douglas DC-10. 80.
27. ^ "2002/11/15 Interim Financial Information." Japan Airlines.
28. ^ "See more articles from AP Online Japan Air System To Cut 1,000 Jobs ." Associated Press.
29. ^ "Card" (Japanese). Japan Air System. Retrieved on March 1, 2009.
30. ^ [1]
31. ^ http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19710703-0
32. ^ http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19930418-0

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. Air Transport World. April 1, 2003.