Japan Airlines may buy 20 Airbus A350 jets: Nikkei

TOKYO- The grounding since January of all aircraft Boeing 787 is having a serious impact on the finances of Japanese carriers. Japan’s national air carrier Japan Airlines (JAL) had already integrated into its fleet seven aircraft and was due to take delivery of another 38 aircraft. 

The aircraft forced already Japan Air Lines to cut its newly launched route to San Diego. On Tuesday, JAL President Yoshiharu Ueki said that the 787's grounding could knock 1.1 billion yen ($11.6 million) off the airline's operating profit for April-May, taking the total hit since the grounding to 1.8 billion yen. In October-December, the company had an operating profit of 46 billion yen.

Without yet having found what caused the battery incidents in January, Boeing last week unveiled a new battery system and predicted the 787 could be back in the air within weeks. It might however take longer as it remained unclear how long regulators will take to approve Boeing's battery fix.

Although that a solution for the Dreamliner looks imminent, the battery’s failure has seriously dented the close relationships that both All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines had to the US aviation maker. On Sunday, it was reported by the Nikkei Daily that JAL may buy about 20 A350 jets from Airbus for around 400 billion yen ($4.23 billion), a move that would reduce its reliance on Boeing.

The Japanese carrier is considering using A350-1000 jets on flights to Europe and the United States to replace its Boeing 777 jets, and is set to make a final decision on the purchase by around June, the newspaper said, without citing sources.

Japan Airlines and Airbus could not be immediately reached for comment.

The deal for the 350-seater planes would be the first with the European aircraft maker and includes a simulation facility for pilot training. Japan Airlines is set to retire its lone McDonnell Douglas MD-90 jet after a final flight on March 30, leaving it with a fleet of more than 100 aircraft, all manufactured by Boeing, the report said.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews