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JAL Premium Economy Service Introduced on More Europe Routes
This year, Japan Airlines (JAL) will introduce the JAL Premium Economy cabin on four more Europe routes. It will be the first time this new service appears on the airline’s Amsterdam and Moscow routes. The cabin will also be introduced on JAL flights serving between London and Osaka, and Paris and Nagoya.
From October 2, 2008 JAL Premium Economy will initially be available on three out of the seven flights a week offered by the airline between Amsterdam and Tokyo (JL411/ 412). The new cabin will be available on this route on a daily basis from December 6, 2008.
JAL Premium Economy will also be introduced for the first time on the Moscow - Tokyo (JL441/ 442) route. It will be available from November 29, 2008 on the three flights per week offered on the route.
The new cabin will also be introduced on two other flights serving between Europe and Japan. To start with JAL Premium Economy will be available from October 1, 2008 on 3 flights per week on the London - Osaka (JL421/ 422) route, finally going daily from November 29. The daily service between Paris and Nagoya (JL437/ 438) will also receive the new service from December 6, 2008.
Tickets for the new cabin on these routes go on sale from July 17, 2008, except for the sale of tickets outside Japan of JAL Premium Economy on the Moscow route which will begin at a later date.
Offering the ultimate in in-flight comfort, JAL Premium Economy was first introduced on the airline’s daily flight between London and Tokyo from December 1, 2007. The service is now also available on the airline’s daily flights between Frankfurt and Tokyo, and 11 flights per week between Paris and Tokyo.
JAL will also offer the service on the New York - Tokyo route (JL005/ 006 only ) on alternate days from August 1, 2008, going daily from August 11. This will be followed by the Tokyo-San Francisco route on September 13, 2008, and the Tokyo - Chicago and Los Angeles routes in FY2009, the year starting April 1, 2009.
Located in its own exclusive cabin area, JAL Premium Economy features the new JAL Sky Shell Seat, the world’s first shell-shaped seat in premium economy class. With 20% more legroom than available in economy class, the JAL Sky Shell Seat’s clever shell-shaped sliding seat-back design ensures that passengers’ private space is maintained throughout the flight, undisturbed even when the seat in front is reclined. For added comfort, this ergonomically designed seat comes fitted with a footrest and headrest.
Every seat comes with its own power outlet suitable for personal computers, and a seat tray that can easily accommodate a fully opened A-4 sized laptop. Passengers can enjoy the latest movies, music and games on their own personal 9-inch TV screen, using JAL’s state-of-the-art audio-visual-on-demand (AVOD) in-flight entertainment system.
In addition to the great selection of food and drinks normally available on JAL’s economy class menu, passengers in JAL Premium Economy are also served other refreshments and snacks such as champagne, instant noodles and ice cream during their journey. Amenities provided in JAL Premium Economy are the same as those supplied in business class.
Seats are arranged in a 2-4-2 configuration on 777 aircraft. A total of 40 seats are available on routes JAL operates 777-200ER which include the Amsterdam and Moscow routes, as well as the London-Osaka and Paris - Nagoya routes. A total of 44 seats are available on routes JAL operates 777-300ER which includes the Tokyo to Frankfurt, London, and Paris routes, and will also include the New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco routes in due course.
JAL to roll out upgraded First and Business Classes on US routes
Japan Airlines is to upgrade its First Class and Business Class - which it calls JAL Executive Class Seasons - when it introduces its new Boeing 777-300ERs, which debut on its route between its Tokyo Narita hub and New York JFK on 1 August, followed by San Francisco from mid-September and Chicago O'Hare and Los Angeles from April. At the same time, it will extend its Premium Economy cabin to these routes.
Its new First Class JAL Suite will offer passengers "one of the largest and most luxurious personal spaces in the sky complemented by an unparalleled in-flight service experience for the ultimate in privacy, relaxation, dining, and entertainment". Each aircraft will offer eight of the suites, laid out in a 1-2-1 configuration, providing 20 per cent more space than at present. The seats are designed to resemble armchairs, which convert at the flick of a switch into full-flat beds. With an ottoman at the opposite end of the compartment, they offer "one of the largest and widest, most comfortable sleeping areas" in the skies. When in chair mode, the ottoman can be used by a "visitor".
Access to JAL's video and audio on demand entertainment is provided through 19 ins personal screens with Bose noise-cancelling headphones. Passengers can order whatever they like to eat, and dine whenever the like, as often as they like, with a choice of Japanese or Western full-course menus.
Its JAL Executive Class Seasons business cabins will be fitted with new JAL Shell Flat Neo Seat, based on its existing award-winning JAL Shell Flat Seat but reclining further - to 171 degrees - and with its pitch and width increased. For entertainment, 15.4 ins personal screens are being installed and more stowage areas for personal items added.
New JAL Check-in Counters at Narita Airport Terminal 2
On December 18, 2007, JAL will open up new passenger check-in counters at Narita Airport Terminal 2 - the airline’s main international hub - as part of its overall aim of reducing average passenger waiting times by approximately 50% during peak hours. The airline will completely renovate both existing First Class and Executive Class counters. New counters will be established exclusively for the use of the airline’s frequent flyers who are either JAL Global Club (JGC) or JMB Sapphire members. JAL will also unveil brand new Support Counters dedicated to servicing the needs of priority guests, such as passengers with disabilities, passengers traveling with babies or expectant mothers. The improvements will enable JAL to provide its passengers with a more convenient, user-friendly, stress free check-in experience at the airport.
First Class Counters:Using a combination of glass and timber for a warmer, more welcoming atmosphere, JAL’s new First Class counters will be conveniently located in the center of the terminal’s 3rd floor just a short distance from the airline’s Fast Security Lane. Established in June 2006, JAL Fast Security Lane is a security check fastrack lane for only First Class passengers and frequent flyers. The first ever such facility at any of Japan's airports handling international flights.
JGC Counters JAL will open new JGC Counters exclusively for the use of frequent flyers who are JAL Global Club (JGC) and JMB Sapphire members. The new area will be fitted with 8 Self Check-in Machines (SCM) to help speed up the check-in process. The JAL Fast Security Lane is also within easy reach of the JGC counters.
Executive Class Counters: In addition to the complete renovation of JAL’s Executive Class check-in counters, 12 additional Self Check-in Machines will also be installed.
Japan Airlines to launch First Class on domestic routes from 1 December
First Class will make its debut on Japan Airlines' domestic flights on 1 December, on seven round trips a day between its Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Itami hubs, expanding as soon as possible to other departures between the two airports. It will be extended during 2008 to Tokyo Haneda routes to and from Fukuoka and Sapporo.
The new cabin will offer seats upholstered in the finest leather, reclining to a maximum angle of 132 degrees with 130 cm of leg room and a width of 53 cm. They will be laid out on its Boeing 777-200s in a 2-2-2 configuration, with a wood-finished centre partition between each pair of seats to provide maximum privacy. In-flight meals will be created by some of Japan's leading restaurants. On the ground, passengers will be able to check in at dedicated First Class counters and use lounges before being offered priority boarding.
JAL to triple size of lounges at its main Tokyo Narita international hub:
Japan Airlines' expanded and refurbished lounges at its Tokyo Narita Terminal 2 main international hub will be opened in mid July, providing more spacious, comfortable environments and improved services. The airline says their new designs would provide "a high quality space for the ultimate in relaxation", with the size of the rooms tripled to offer seating for up to 700 people.
JAL to raise Delhi frequencies to daily
Japan Airlines is to increase frequencies between its Tokyo Narita hub and Delhi from the current four flights a week to daily from 28 October. Schedules will rise to five a week from 1 October before increasing further to seven a week later that month. All flights will be by two-class Boeing 777-200ERs.
New JAL VIP Lounges at Narita International Airport (Terminal 2)
Jal Japan Airlines unveiled two completely revamped lounges at Narita International Terminal 2, the airline's main international hub. JAL has created a more spacious and more comfortable environment in the JAL First Class Lounge and JAL Sakura Lounge located in the main building of the terminal. This has been achieved by almost tripling the total lounge area; totally redesigning and refurbishing their interiors; and improving the range of services available.
The two lounges have a combined space of nearly 4,000m2 and total seating for almost 700 people. They have been completely transformed by using warm timber such as walnut combined with soothing lighting, elements of glass and stone, and furnished with stylish leather and suede upholstered furniture to create a contemporary Japanese interior design that has a calm, welcoming atmosphere with a subtle sense of drama.
Both lounges feature a self-service dining area open from 7:30am to 10:00 pm in which JAL offers a new buffet-style hot meal service. Every morning, JAL serves a fine selection of hot food items for breakfast ranging from bacon, sausage and scrabbled eggs to tofu, wakame (seaweed) miso soup and freshly cooked Uonuma Koshihikari rice from Niigata. For lunch and dinner, passengers can enjoy eating, for example, spicy Thai chicken and vegetable curry with rice, or Sanuki udon - soft noodles served in a soup seasoned with bonito and kelp.
Throughout the day, passengers can also enjoy a selection of healthy gourmet soups made by Soup Stock Tokyo, such as lobster and crab soup, and Tokyo clam chowder. Soup Stock Tokyo is a popular chain of eateries specializing in soups made only from natural ingredients free of artificial flavorings or preservatives.
Menus will be adjusted to reflect the changing flavors of the seasons, so that passengers can enjoy the freshest of ingredients.
Stylish bar-counters with fantastic views of the airport are staffed by bartenders from 3pm until 10pm in both lounges. The bartenders are there to serve a wide range of drinks including champagne, single-malt whiskeys, cognac, wine, draft beer, and a choice of 11 cocktails including JAL's own original sake-based martini cocktail, called Sakura.
Furthermore, well-stocked beverage counters and salad bars are available in both lounges.
Prior to departure, customer are able to freshen up in one of the new shower rooms, or enjoy free-of-charge a soothing massage offered by a resident professional masseuse. Customers can also rest in relaxation rooms furnished with curve-shaped loungers, or unwind in one of the latest hi-tech massage chairs.
This business environment of the two lounges has been improved as they come fitted with such standard conveniences as electrical outlets for PC power, as well as high-speed wireless LAN connection for Internet access.
Furthermore, the JAL Sakura Lounge features a Children's Room for families traveling with children. The room has a fun play area, and is stocked with children's games, toys, books and a wide-screen television.
JAL aircraft with special oneworld livery makes debut flight
The first of two Boeing 777s that Japan Airlines (JAL) is painting with a special oneworld® design to mark its recent addition to the world's leading quality global airline alliance made its maiden flight in its new livery today.
The Series 200ER Triple Seven, registration JA704J, took off from the airline's main international hub Tokyo Narita this morning, as flight JL441 bound for Moscow Sheremetyevo.
It is scheduled to operate later this week on services between Japan and Amsterdam and Paris, and on other European routes in the future.
JAL plans to roll out a second 777 in its special oneworld livery at the end of this month - a Series 300 version, registration number JA8941, which will fly on the airline's Japanese domestic routes.
The design features a huge globe in the distinctive horizon blue of oneworld, painted on the centre of the aircraft, with a stylised motif to symbolize the convenience, comfort, value and choice available to passengers throughout the alliance's comprehensive global network.
JAL became a member of oneworld on 1 April, and has been offering the full range of the alliance's services and benefits since then. Five other members of the JAL Group became part of oneworld alongside Japan Airlines on the same day, as affiliates - JALways, Japan Asia Airways, JAL Express, J-AIR and Japan Transocean Air.
They have added nearly 50 destinations to the network served by oneworld carriers. Members of the JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) can now earn and redeem mileage awards on all other oneworld carriers. JAL Global Club Premier, JMB Diamond and Sapphire cardholders can also now gain access to the 400 airport lounges worldwide offered by the alliance's airlines.
Frequent flyer programme members of the other oneworld airlines - American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Finnair, Iberia, LAN Airlines, Malev, Qantas, and Royal Jordanian - can now earn and redeem awards and receive all other oneworld benefits on JAL.
JAL's network is also now covered by oneworld's extensive range of alliance fares and sales products.
oneworld has been the only global airline alliance with the customer convenience of interline e-ticketing between all its partners for two years already, enabling passengers to transfer between its airlines' flights without the need for traditional paper tickets.
The same convenience was extended across JAL as it boardedthe grouping, as part of a comprehensive programme which saw all its internal processes and procedures brought into line with the alliance's requirements.
Joining oneworld alongside JAL and its five affiliates on 1 April were also Malév Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian as members, and LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador as affiliates, in alliance's biggest expansion in its history.
JAL Japan Airlines Introduces Wine from Japan To Business Class
The wine selected for serving in JAL Executive Class-Seasons on JAL's Japan-Europe routes is Aruga Branca Clareza 2005, produced from the indigenous Japanese Koshu grape variety. “Clareza” is made with the modern sur lies process, where the wine is left to age in the vat in contact with the lees or sediments through winter to spring. This pleasant pale golden dry white wine has a cloak of acidity well balanced with an invigorating fruity taste.
JAL will feature the wine throughout 2007 after receiving very positive reactions from European passengers in a two-week trial period on the Tokyo-London route in October 2006.
Clareza comes from the Katsunuma winery of the Aruga family who have a 70-year history of wine-making in the Katsunuma district in Yamanashi Prefecture, now known as Koshu City, about 100 kilometers (62.5 miles) west of Tokyo.
Yamanashi is the home of the “Koshu” grape, indigenous to Japan and successfully cultivated here after its introduction from China 800 years ago. Until recently, wine produced from this grape was regarded as lightweight and undistinguished. But as a result of dedicated research into its aroma components and fermentation methods, some growers, especially the local Aruga family has achieved outstanding results.
One of the great merits of these new Koshu styles is their compatibility with Japanese food as well as with European cuisine - and especially with simply prepared seafood dishes.
New Japanese wines selected in JAL First Class
Apart from the new business class selection, JAL is offering two other Aruga Koshu varietals in their new 2007 first class wine list.
These are the Aruga Branca Issehara 2006 and the Aruga Branca Pipa 2003. Differences in `terroir' produce slight differences among the Koshu grapes from various grape-growing districts of Katsunuma. This elegant wine from the single vineyard of Issehara in the district is fruity but “off dry” with a hint of sweetness.
“Pipa” is made first by fermenting specially selected Koshu grapes of concentrated fruit and fully developed acidity, then by maturing in French oak casks for six months to ensue a firm body.
In addition to the new range of Koshu white wines, JAL has also selected a Japanese red for the first class wine list, a Solaris Shinshu Komoro Merlot 2003
This comes from the Osato district of Komoro City on the Chikuma River in eastern Nagano Prefecture, where Manns Wine, a major Japanese wine-maker, has been growing Merlot grapes using special techniques to suit Japanese conditions. Only the highest quality grapes from the vineyard, amounting to a third of the average yield, are used in the vintage. The vineyard is covered for protection from the elements. The resulting wine, with a bouquet of vanilla from virgin oak casks, offers a sound and round aftertaste of fruit and tannin.
JAL Wins Best First Class Red in the 2006 Cellars in the Sky Wine Awards
Japan Airlines (JAL) has won the Best First Class Red category in the prestigious “Cellars in the Sky” wine awards organized by Business Traveller Magazine and Wine and Spirit Magazine (formerly Wine International).
During a two-day tasting held in October 2006, teams of experts from Wine and Spirit Magazine judged and compared wines from some 30 international airlines' First and Business class in-flight wine cellars to award winners across 14 categories.
JAL won the category of Best First Class Red for the ChCteau Pichon-Longueville Baron 1998 Pauillac. This classic deep red full-bodied Bordeaux wine has a complex bouquet of fruits and mushroom aromas, which promises a soothing and very satisfying finish.
JAL's first and business class wine lists feature a selection of over 20 wines from around the world to ensure that passengers always have a balanced and varying range of wines to choose from. Passengers can enjoy exquisite wines produced by the established vineyards of France, Germany and Italy, as well as from Japan and the New World including Australia, Chile, and the USA.
Wine production in Japan
In more and more parts of Japan, wine growers are producing high quality wines using cultivation methods to suit the quirky Japanese climate, combining traditional methods with the latest techniques and the results are beginning to be noticed internationally.
For example, for years many Japanese wineries have used overhead trellises for growing grapes. However now some growers have challenged this conventional wisdom by adopting vertical shoot growing systems used in Europe.
Today Japanese wine makers are producing varietal wines of great quality, including chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon and merlot, and today wines from Japan are among the medal winners at international wine festivals and exhibitions. Among the better-known brands that have won awards is the Mercian Corporation, with sensational merlots from Kikyogahara in Nagano prefecture and luscious chardonnays from the Hokushin district in the same prefecture. JAL featured the Mercian 1995 Kikyogahara Merlot in First Class. Other leading makers producing good quality top of the line ranges include liquor giant Suntory, the beer-backed Sapporo Wines and Mann's Wine, a spin-off from Kikkoman Soy sauce.
The main center for domestic wine production is Yamanashi prefecture, west of Tokyo where there are about 80 of the country's 150-some wineries. Grape growing as a fruit crop had been carried on here for centuries but wine growing only started here 125 years ago as an alternative crop after a rice harvest failure. In 1877 two young men were sent to France to learn the arts of viticulture and winemaking, and that is generally considered to be the start of the Japanese wine story. Nowadays, there are wineries all over the country, from Hokkaido to Kyushu.
Yamanashi is also the home of the “Koshu” grape, indigenous to Japan and cultivated here for centuries. Until recently, wine produced from this grape was regarded as lightweight and undistinguished. But as a result of dedicated research into its aroma components and fermentation methods, some growers including the Aruga family winery have achieved outstanding results.
One of the great merits of these new Koshu styles is their compatibility with Japanese food as well as with European cuisine - and especially with simply prepared seafood dishes.
In the last 30 years, more and more small wineries have started up, as the taste for wine in Japan in general has grown, boosted by overseas travel, diversification in diet habits and inexpensive imports.
But wine producers here face the difficult challenge of the Japanese climate, with its high humidity and prolonged rainy season.
Climate isn't the only challenge. Japanese wine producers face other formidable barriers. Japanese restaurateurs favor imported wines over domestic varieties. The cost of top quality domestic wines tends to be higher than many quality imports. Production of the top domestic wines is limited and supplies are hard to come by. As a result the profile of domestic wine in general is low and suffers from old prejudices based on poor quality production in the past.
These challenges will take a long time to clear and indeed some may never be overcome completely. But today Japan's domestic wine sector has never been so interesting and so active. Among the industry there is a spirit of cooperation and mutual regard in which the big companies are extending a helping hand to smaller, but high quality, producers. The enlightened attitude of some big companies is that by working together with smaller partners to raise the profile of quality domestic wines, they will all eventually benefit.
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