AkiJet

AkiJet Japan National

秋ジェット日本国営航空会社

only-next-strike

Founded

1951

Parent company

Autumn Holdings

Region

#region:asia

Headquarters

#country:japan, 〒106-6201 Tokyo, Minato City, Roppongi, 3 Chome−2−1

Alliance

#alliance:globalsky

Frequent flyer program

AkiJet J-Club

Website

TBI

Hubs

Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Fukuoka

Subsidiaries

AkiJet Shuttle, Aozora Japan, Sparkair Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolitain Air Services

Slogan

”Japan's Choice”

Tags

#airline:akijet

AkiJet is Japan's flag carrier and second largest airline. The airline is headquartered in Minato City, Tokyo. The airline was one of the founding members of the GlobalOne Alliance alongside National Airlines. The Airline is owned by the Japanese holdings company Autumn Holdings and owns a regional subsidiary called AkiJet Shuttle

History

Postwar Era (Nihon National Air System)

In 1951 the first Japanese airline was created with the government of Japan creating the first state owned airline of postwar Japan. This airline was known as Nihon Air System (日本国営航空システム/ Nihon kokuei kōkū shisutemu) and began operations with a converted Douglas DC-3 aircraft. The first route of this brand new airline flew from Tokyo Haneda Airfield to Itami Airbase (Now Osaka Itami Airport) using a DC3 purchased from the US Air Force and converted to civilian use.

By 1953, the airline had expanded to serve Sapporo's Chitose Airfield, Fukuoka, Iwakuni, Nagoya and Naha in Okinawa. The airline by now owned 4 DC-3s and had placed orders for a 4 DC-6s. Using these DC-6s, the airline expanded international with flights to Yeouido Airport in Seoul, marking the first international flight for the airline. After recieving the DC-6s, the airline began flights to Los Angeles in the United States, via Wake Island and Honolulu. The DC-7s were used to further expand the airline's network internationally, in particular establishing flights to Manila in the Philipines as well as Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong.

By 1958 the airline added Singapore, Bangkok and Taipei Songshan to the growing list of destinations. Across the Pacific, the airline now served San Francisco and Seattle.

The Jet Age

In 1961 the airline recieved it's first ever Jet Airliner, the Boeing 707. The plane (which was named Natsu) was used on the route connecting Tokyo Haneda and Los Angeles in the US. The plane featured an onboard bar and lounge stocked with the finest spirits available at the time, and the flight was widely regarded as one of the most luxurious ways to cross the Pacific. More 707s were recieved through the 60s with the airline possessing around 35 of the jets by the end of the decade.

Nihon National Airways Corporation

As the 1970s began, the airline ordered the Boeing 747 as well as the DC-10 with the first Boeing 747 entering service with the airline in 1971. The airline used this plane to expand flights to London Heathrow via Sahar Airport (Now Chhatrapati Chivaji Airport) in Mumbai as well as upgrading service on the flight to New York JFK . Around this time, another major change in branding occurred to the airline. The government of Japan made the decision to buy the old long standing private airlines in Japan, a move that was deeply unpopular and criticized. During this move, CEO was replaced with Mr Yuta Hagumo. Hagumo worked as CEO of a steel mill in Yokohama before being appointed as CEO of the newly christened Nihon National Airways (or NNA for short).

He was present to welcome the airline's first DC-10 into service which began operating on domestic routes to Kagoshima and Kumamoto as well as on routes to Seoul's Gimpo Airport. DC-10s were also deployed on routes to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur as well as Perth and Honolulu. The airline also recieved the first of it's Boeing 747SR aircraft, designed specifically for domestic trunk routes. The first 747SR flew the NP1 route between Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Itami Airport as well as being deployed to Okinawa's Naha airport and Fukuoka. Further 747SRs were deployed to Sapporo Chitose, Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Aomori.

The airline's domestic network grew massively due to the absorpiton of a number of small domestic carriers, resulting in the fleet size also balooning around this time and adding to overall operational costs with a number of older propeller aircraft being added to the fleet.

By the end of the decade the airline moved into Tokyo's Narita Airport, but maintained the domestic network out of Tokyo Haneda.

Into the Reds

In the 1980s, the Airline boasted a huge market share over Japan as well as an extremely extensive domestic and international network, but the first cracks were starting to show. On the 5th of July 1981, a Nihon National Air DC-10 suffered a structural failure which resulted on the plane crashing shortly after takeoff from Naha Airport in Okinawa. The crash resulted in the deaths of 170 of the 275 passengers and crew on board. The crash was blamed on improper maintenance after it was discovered the involved aircraft was involved in a wing clip incident while taxiing in Haneda Airport nearly 3 months earlier.

Nonetheless the airline's growth continued as the airline took delivery of MD80 aircraft for domestic services. The airline also took delivery of Dash 8 Q-400s around this time to operate regional routes. The airline briefly operated the Airbus A300 during this decade but ultimately cancelled the lease on this aircraft.

The balooning costs of the disorganised and in many places outdated fleet inheritied during the merger was also starting to put a financial strain on the airline. In addition, new competitors were not banned so competition from other airlines began eating away at profits.

In 1985 a report uncovered corruption in the AkiJet leadership. A number of company executives were removed and some even jailed for embezzling money meant for the airline. Around this time the airline also recieved a new CEO, as Masaru Tanaka took over the airline, but problems for the airline did not end there. Further near misses and maintenance shortcuts were causing delays and disruption the airline couldn't afford

Nihon National Flight 35

Nihon National Airways flight 35 was a regularly scheduled flight between Tokyo Haneda Airport and Fukuoka. The flight was operated daily with the Boeing 747SR. On the 10th of August 1986, flight 35 took off from Tokyo Haneda 30 minutes behind schedule for the short hope over to Fukuoka Airport. 510 passengers were onboard with a further 15 crew members including 3 pilots.

En route to Fukuoka, the plane suffered a fatal structureal failure when the rear cabin bulkhead gave way and critically damaged the rear flight control surfaces resulting in a total loss of control. The pilots managed to fly the plane using the engines for a further 15 minutes until the plane impacted mountains on the outskirts of Tokyo. The accident resulted in the deaths of 500 of the passengers and 14 crew members including all 3 pilots.

The fallout from the accident was huge, as the airline had to pay a significant settlement. Nihon National Airways maintenance once again came under fire for improper maintenance practices with the worker who was overseeing maintenance on the accident aircraft committing suicide 2 days after the preliminary report was released.

Economic Crisis and Buyout

By the 1990s, Japan was facing an economic crisis. The asset bubble burst caused GDP growth to come to a standstill and culminated in the start of Japan's lost decade. Nihon National Airways by now was haemorrhaging money as the airline began to cut services and sell aircraft. The prestige routes to Europe and North America were stripped to the bare minimum while routes to Asia faced lower frequency. The government began to look for buyers for the airline and made it a priority to privatize the struggling carrier. While this was going on, the airline ordered boeing 767-400ERs and Airbus A320s and A321s to replace the desperately outdated planes the airline still flew domestically and within Asia. The airline also ordered the Boeing 777-200 and A330-300 as well as a number of 747-400Ds around this time to replaced the Boeing 747SRs and DC-10s, but the added cost further added to the airline's financial woes.

In 1995, Autumn Holdings purchased the airline from the Japanese government for 140 billion yen. Soon after the airline was rebranded to AkiJet and the airline also adopted a new livery and logo. Alongside this, the airline had already began operating the brand new Boeing 777s and A320 and the new A330s were starting to be recieved. The Boeing 767-400ERs would enter service in the new millennium replacing DC-10s on domestic and intra Asian routes.

Autumn holdings worked tirelessly to renew the brand image, introducing seatback IFE to every widebody by the year 2005. This promise was expanded to the narrowbodies as every new A320 and A321 featured seatback entertainment by 2008.

Modern Day

AkiJet became one of the earliest customer for the Boeing 787 in 2011, operating the new aircraft to London Heathrow, Los Angeles and New York JFK by the end of the year. The airline retired the Boeing 747SR by 2008. Boeing 747-400D flights have continued into the modern day with 3 remaining aircraft in the fleet.

The airline announced it's intentions to modernize it's fleet in 2017 when it announced that they would order the new Airbus A350 and the A320neo and A321neo to replace the A330s, 767-400ERs and A320ceo family of aircraft. AkiJet recieved it's first A350-900 in 2021 and began operating it on the AJ1 route between Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Itami.

The airline helped transport athletes for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

During the Covid 19 pandemic, the airline retired 7 of their 10 Boeing 747-400D aircraft, keeping 3 in storage. As of 2026, 2 of the planes, JA74RK and JA74RJ have been reactivated. As of October 2026, all Boeing 747-400Ds have been retired from active service.

Corporate Affairs

Management Team

CEO - Ms Natsuki Hirose Natsuki Hirose has served as CEO of AkiJet since 2021. Having started out as a flight attendant in 1995, she has been a long time employee at AkiJet.

CFO - Mr Yuji Saito Mr Yuji Saito joined in 1988. He was appointed as CFO in 2023.

Chairman - Mr Junji Nakahara Chairman of Autumn Holdings as well as AkiJet.

Organisation

AkiJet is the owner of a number of other airlines that operate under it.

• AkiJet Shuttle - A regional airline operating across Japan with different branches based in Sapporo Okadama, Sapporo New Chitose, Nagoya Komaki, Tokyo Haneda, Fukuoka and Kagoshima
• Sparkair - A hybrid airline made up of Boeing 787 aircraft that operate within Asia as well as to North America.
• Aozora Japan - A low cost carrier based in Tokyo Narita airport.
• Tokyo Metropolitain Air Service - A regional carrier based in Tokyo Chofu

Former airlines include:

• Nihon Asian Airlines - A subsidiary created to fly to Taiwan without compromising the right to fly to the People's Republic of China.

Branding

Frequent Flyer Programme

AkiJet operates the J-Club frequent flyer programme with members being able to earn points on all AkiJet airlines (with the exception of Tokyo Metropolitan Air Service). As the airline is a member of the GlobalSky Alliance, members can earn points on other alliance members according to their earning rules unless the flight is operated as a codeshare with AkiJet. The current tiers of the programme are:

• J-Club Red - The lowest tier
• J-Club Silver - Equivalent to GlobalSky Ruby
• J-Club Gold - Equivalent to GlobalSky Emerald
• J-Club Prestige - The highest tier. Equivalent to GlobalSky Sapphire Members can earn Miles and Sora points with Sora points being akin to tier points that help members move up the ranks.