In 1998, Japan Airlines (JAL) received its first Boeing 777-300 aircraft. It is a derivative of the 777, which first flew as the Boeing 777-200 in 1994, and is 73.9 meters long, 3.2 meters longer than the 747-400, which is 70.66 meters long. All aircraft will be retired by March 2021. With the introduction of the Airbus A350, the main role of large aircraft on domestic routes has changed.
The 777-300 introduced for domestic flights has a 3-4-3 configuration with 78 Class J seats and 422 regular seats for a total of 500 seats. Seven large aircraft were introduced to replace the 747 for domestic flights. The domestic version of the 747-400 is equipped with a total of 546 seats, 80 premium class seats and 466 regular seats, making it the second largest aircraft in Japan. It was mainly in charge of transportation on trunk routes such as the New Chitose(Sapporo), Itami(Osaka), Fukuoka,and Naha lines departing from Haneda.
All 777-300s have been retired due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the Boeing 777-300ER, a variant of the 777-300 with a longer range, continues to be used on international flights. This aircraft will also be retired from around 2023 and replaced by the A350-1000. Both the 777-300 used on domestic flights and the 777-300ER used on international flights will be replaced by the A350-900 and A350-1000, but their retirement will not only mean JAL's switch from Boeing to Airbus; It also signifies a change in the times from mass transportation to premium demand.
At TRW, we would like to pay homage to JAL's 777s, which have made a huge contribution to Japan's commercial aviation industry, by releasing a repaint of them.