The world's most OP aircraft: Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 only flies SHORT-HAUL? | Osaka to Tokyo 

Japanese carriers are famous for their large capacity planes on short routes! Most of their 747s served 45-90 minute flights and they still operate some really dense 777-300s on key routes.

11:25 This attention to details is next level. My dad was in Japan for a research exchange program a while ago. He was impressed with the Japanese almost obsessive attention to details. Even things that he didn't know he needed until he did, he could always find them.

Japan has a culture of using widebodies for domestic flight, they also use the 787 and 767 and sometimes the 777 on short haul domestic flights. They do this cause, grind for passengers.

All i can say is remember the 747-400D?

I used to live in Japan, and I still remember I rode in a 747 from Tokyo to Okinawa, about a three-hour long flight. It was massive and I miss that airplane...

We flew on JAL’s A350 3 weeks ago between Tokyo and Sapporo in first class. An amazing experience and I highly recommend trying it.

Just want to correct that the "business class" you have mentioned is Class-J, which is considered premium economy. There is no meal service or priority boarding, it's basically economy with roomier seat. So aboard A350, it consists of First Class, Premium Economy (Class-J), and Economy (Ordinary). Great content as always!

Also you should try their new A350-1000 Cabin, but it's only on their Haneda-JFK route so far

我が街伊丹を訪れてくれてありがとうございます！航空機だけではなくて伊丹空港の紹介もしてくれて嬉しいです！

The safest airline and safest aircraft! Really great to see after the recent Japan Airlines incident!!

You guys are the best! I always look forward to seeing your content! Keep up the great work Felix!

Better product than what many airlines offer on their long haul routes

JAL once had a fleet of over 100 747s, most of which plied domestic routes. They were specially built for JAL.

Wow, that’s amazing! I love that JAL equip their A350-900 like any other international aircrafts with IFE, universal power outlets… while they only use it for domestic flight.

Amazing quality video! Keep doing the best work!!

Japan has the best transportation system (air, sea, land), different options to choose from if you don't like flying their shinkansen, and if you're not in a hurry their is also inter-island ferries. I would recommend taking the longest domestic flights such as between Tokyo-Haneda to New Chitose, Sapporo in Hokkaido. Or Tokyo-Haneda to Naha in Okinawa to maximize the experience.

ANA flies 787s on this exact route. I had the pleasure of flying that route last summer, and it was the best 45 minute flight I had ever been on.

when you went past mount fuji i saw loads of bridges and beaches i went to when i was younger

Beautiful shots of mt Fuji 😍

Nice catch of the bullet train passing under the airport at 12:02!! Japan Airline's business class is more of a premium economy with prices usually only $15 more expensive than normal economy. You should check out the viewing deck at Itami airport too since it was renovated quite recently.

Japanese domestic planes are a different animal from its international route-serving planes. They are on average, pretty much Euro-like in their seat crampiness, and skimped on a lot of services, also very densely configured. The 747-400D seats 568 to 660 passengers. During peak season, people stand on Shinkansen trains. That's why they use 300-seated Boeing 787-8 to fly less than 1 hour flight. This A350-900 looks super refreshing, it kinda gives hope that Japanese domestic air travel doesn't have to be depressing. The JAL A350-900 replaces their domestic Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300 domestic. By your video review, the economy seat looks super comfortable and very decent. Recaro seats are known to be very light weight, which helps safe fuel and cost. Air travel is very often awful, I say this as an aviation geek. In the overused example of Itami-Haneda by jets vs. Shin-Osaka station-Tokyo station by Shinkansen - the Shinkansen easily won by 20-30 minutes if you want to go from Namba, Osaka to Shibuya, Tokyo. That's why the domestic flight processes are super simplified to make it competitive enough. Given aviation's intricate process and restrictive safety procedure for passengers, it leaves only their cheaper ticket price and the novelty of flying through the stratopsphere as advantage. Any otherwise, the Shinkansen simply won in everything else. You can play with your phone, walk around the train, buy any food you like in the station and eat / drink in the train, and arrive right in the middle of a neighbourhood that is always surrounded by shopping centres or community centres. Throughout the journey you stay pretty close to the sea level, so you don't experience any pressurization issues, dry air, and increased cosmic radiation exposure. Basically, both ANA and JAL knew very well what they are competing against, besides the plethora of Low Cost Airlines - which is why they monopolise Itami Airport slots. Mt Fuji is easily located West of Tokyo Haneda. Any XAC## (Oshima) STAR approaches for western arrival (from Osaka, Fukuoka, or Naha) will get you through a very close view of it on the left side. As the plane turns towards Tokyo bay (KAIHO waypoint transition) for Runway 34 (the twin northward runway direction), in clear weather, you should still be able to see the mountain with Yokohama skylines in the foreground. In the video, you are landing on Runway 22 (the northern westbound runway)... the approach to both Runway 22 and 23 will give you clear views of Tokyo Disneyland and Disneysea (below you on left side for RWY 22, right side for RWY 23). Even further south arrival towards Narita (RUTAS## STAR) will also give you good view of Mt. Fuji on the left side. Leaving Tokyo westward, you'll need to sit on the right side.

loved your explanation, maps and graphics

I flew on the a350 that crashed from Sapporo to Haneda airport in Tokyo 16days before the crash

Fantastic trip report as always David!😸

I did lots of flights on this. Itami was part of my full flight trips 😊

Flying home after my vacation in Hokkaido, I flew on a Japan Airlines Airbus A350-900 (JA07XJ) from Sapporo New Chitose Airport to Tokyo Haneda Airport 10 days ago. Flight time was around 1hr 30mins or so. The flight I took from Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo New Chitose was operated by a JAL Boeing 767-300ER, which is a much older plane by at least 10 years and it had no Inflight Entertainment on board. It was a stark difference. If you are flying JAL domestic and if you can, choose the newer A350-900.

I flew out of ITM to HND in J on their 767 if I remember correctly, ended up going to Kamakura for dinner. I love Japanese airports.

This is why I prefer to fly domestic flights rather than taking bullet trains whenever I'm visiting Japan. Both JAL and ANA also has special promotion fares for domestic flights called Japan Explorer Pass which is only eligible for international travellers. It is much cheaper than bullet trains but it only covers the busiest domestic routes. Imagine flying these beautiful widebodies for less than $150 usd.

Americans generally don't understand the unusual Japanese domestic market (or that the US domestic market is unusual too). JAL and ANA compete in a domestic market where their primary competitor is the Shinkansen trains. This cabin competes with the amenities available on the fast trains that can depart from city centers on the hour with a very competitive total travel time. JAL/ANA operate two distinct airplane fleets, one international and one domestic. The lavatory and galley ratios will be completely different on the two fleets. There will be reduced lavatories because of the short flights.

I’ve flown on JAL,s domestic A350s and they had one of the best cabin services!

I have booked flights in Europe where, within the same airline group, I had the choice of 3 different flights within 1.5 hours, all operated by A320. That's about 500 seats. In total more than 12 flights a day. Would make sense to use bigger planes.

That external tail camera is all I would have on for my flight!

I almost wished you didn’t significantly reduce the cabin ambient noise during boarding, because Japan Airlines boarding music is one of my absolute favourites. ❤ Does anyone know how that song ended up being JAL’s boarding music? I can’t find anything more other than, it was launched when JAL started their new flagship 777 service to the US in the early 2000s.

Awesome video!

That shot of Osaka Castle at 1:57 is nice. When I was there I saw a pretty close plane pass by, so I guess that's what their view looked like. Anyway, I drive when I go to Japan, so imagine driving a kei van rental for 5.5 hours pegged at limits from Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka. lol. I've done Delta 777-200 ER there, and ANA 777-300 ER, I definitely want to try JAL 350-1000 next.

love your videos. please leave the full take off rolls in them if possible. thanks!

Simply Aviation: simply amazing ❤❤❤

I was few gates away from yours this day, catching my flight to Nagasaki. Too bad I misssed you.

Im so happy that there are a lot of Brutally Honest episodes coming up on your channel

Great video as always!

Really enjoyed your video. Thank you for your talented and well-informed travel videos. Great job!

Well, a short haul flight on an a350, love the video.

Don’t remember if it was ANA or Japan Airlines, but one of those airlines used to have 747s with an all economy configuration they would use for domestic flights.

This is a fabulous and informative video. I enjoy it very much. Thanks for sharing.

Originally the total fleet of A350-900 is 16 but JA13XJ has completely written off on runway collusion at Haneda Airport on January 2nd 2024

I'll be doing 4 domestic flights in Japan later this year, am excited! 2 with ANA (787 and 767) and two with JAL (737 and A350). I did do two domestic flights in Japan before, both with ANA (777 and 787) and the experience was always great.

Beautiful Air Craft.Great Video

Great narration and high quality video as always! But actually BA's A380 has the highest number of Business Class seat, at staggering 97!

Vietnam Airlines also use A350-900 and B787 for domestic flights around 2 hours

Great video. As a resident of northern Osaka, I see these planes from my front window all the time, and my little son waves at them taking off. One thing - the proper pronunciation of Takarazuka is "TakaRAHzuka", not "TakaraZUka". Pedantic I know, but I just had to say it😉

i love japan

Not only Japan uses the widebody fleet on the domestic flights. South Korea uses the widebody aircraft on Gimpo to Jeju flights, most Chinese airlines also use the heavy fleet on their domestic flights as well, both Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific used their heavy aircraft for flights to Davao, Cebu and General Santos City, Garuda Indonesia utilising the heavy body aircraft for flights between Jakarta and Bali, Indian airlines like Air India are using the widebody aircraft as well for their domestic network, and Saudia utilise the widebody aircraft for the flights within Saudi Arabia. It's not only Asia but also in other parts of the globe. The big 3 American carriers utilise the widebody aircraft for the domestic service (counting the flights to Hawaii) and even Air Canada is using their widebody fleet for domestic services as well

I believe that Singapore Airlines also uses their a359 for the Sin-Kul route as well

Japanese airlines are crazy, just imagine this product on such a short flight from a full-service carrier like Japan Airlines, or even something like what zipair offers.

once the A350 1000 is finally delievered to JAL, then you will see a Japan Airlines A350 landing at places like Singapore, Sydney, London or LAX. But the A350-1000 are planned to be the main international flagship replacing the 777-300s. But the A350-900 will probably stay on domestic and maybe some short haul international services. I thinks that is also partly why they went after the A350, to get crews familiar with the type. I can also see some of these A350-900s also operating High Demand International routes within Asia in the future, like Tokyo - Seoul, Hong Kong or Ho Chi Minh City. If Japan Airlines can easily get their hands on more of the A350-900 units.

SQ also does Recaro 3710s on their regional A350s/787s but these at least see some flights up to 6-7 hours. Most of them are 1-3 hours though.

I lived near that monorail. My little safe space in Japn :) ... Itami is great. close to the shinkansen, fast security, super conveneint. KIX is a nightmare just to get to it.

I’ve flown between Tokyo HND/NRT and Sapporo CTS many times and I’ve had the luxury to travel on many different aircraft types on this route. 747, 767, 787, A350 and CRJ200. It’s quite fascinating…

Only in Airbus we trust😍❤️🥰

PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines) bought two Lockheed L-1011s in the early 1970s, which they operated between SFO or Sacramento and LAX and San Diego. I got to fly on one from SMF (Sacramento) to LAX. The actual flight time between Northern and Southern California is about 50 minutes. The scheduled time was about an hour and twenty minutes to allow for taxi time. The configuration was all coach, with no mid-lavs and one mid galley with short walls. I sat towards the back. Looking forward, it was almost like a cargo plane! Unfortunately, PSA’s timing was really bad, as they ordered these airplanes right before the 1974 Arab/OPEC oil embargo. PSA ended up placing both aircraft into long term storage. They stayed parked in the desert for twelve years until purchased by, I believe, ATA. ATA removed the unique forward lower lobe lounge and converted it back into a cargo hold. There’s other information about these airplanes on the internet from people who know more than I do about them. Please don’t beat me up if I don’t have all of my information correct.

Japanese is so considerate and even built a website to see mt fuji ❤

I'm going to take JAL flight from Sapporo Chitose to Tokyo Haneda with A350-900 on August. So glad to see what the flight would be like before then! Thank you!

Makes it even sadder to know that JA13XJ got written off... Oh and these JAL A350-900s along with some of Singapore Airlines' A350-900s allocated for mid haul flights have a tuned down version of the Trent XWB - the Trent 75 instead of the usual Trent 84. 7:31 2-4-2*, that's actually referred to as Class J, and uses seats that resemble regular premium economy seats but not sure why for some reason it's labelled as C instead of W.

Thank you for the tip about the Mount Fuji thing. I have booked LHS for a flight I recently booked for HNDFUK.

Both JAL and ANA have a long history of using wide-body jets for domestic flights. The JAL Airbus 350-900 plane that suffered a crash at Haneda/Tokyo airport at the beginning of this year was coming in from Sapporo/Hokkaido. Good review of JAL domestic service, both in terms of plane features and very high service standards!

You should try Chinese airlines domestic flights on a wide-body jet, including the last queen of the skies still flying. There is a slight chance that even if you book the domestic flight to fly the queen of the skies, it will switch to the Boeing 777 last minute.

I had the good fortune to fly this same route with JAL back in January but flew instead on a 788. Maybe next time the A359😉

This explains why I flew on a JAL 787 from Nagoya to Tokyo. It also explains why it felt like it had flown a milion cycles :)

I saw an Asiana A380 flying from Incheon to Tokyo. It was not even 2 hour long.

This JAL Airbus A350-900s and A350-1000 may fly to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago O’Hare, Dallas Fort Worth, and New York JFK International Airports.

The domestic routes served by JAL A350-900s were once operated by 747s before they were replaced by 777s and the 777s itself were replaced by A350s.

I took the JAL A359 last year from FUK to HND and was surprised that there was even free WiFi for the entire flight.

Can you make a review for the new JAL flight from Haneda-Doha or Vice Versa i am just curious about it and want to see your review about it

One A350 was involved in a collision while landing at the same airport (Sapporo to Haneda)

One trip to China, 747SR, all economy seast upperand lower deck, 45 minute flight. I timed it from first boarding pass swiped to door closed, 14.47. Unloading took even less time. That was because they screened everyones carryon; too many or too big they gate checked it without asking. Did get a cup of hot tea on the flight but that was it. Ture short haul, made the subway trip to the airport seem long.

Able to sit in a gorgeous plane on a short haul flight gotta be a pleasant experience ❤

There is a bus service to Kyoto from Itami, only 55 minutes and very comfortable.

In my childhood, 747s and 767s dominated the sky in Japan. Later they were replaced by 777s and 787s. 777s owned by JAL are now being replaced by A350 and those owned by ANA will be replaced by 777Xs in coming years.

SQ also flies their A350-900 on shorthaul routes such as KUL-SIN which is than an hour!

Wow

There was a time in my mid-30s when I would intentionally fly JAL between Greater Tokyo and the Kansai (Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe) area, primarily to earn miles. Yes, the view can be great and the service is decent…but not enough time to enjoy the amenities inflight and/or simply stretch out and relax. I like to enjoy the process of getting there, and such short flights make me feel harried. After a couple of years I went back to the tried-and-true Shinkansen which gives me much more flexibility (free to change trains as many times as I want if I book online), frequency of service (up to 10 trains per hour Tokyo-Osaka), and legroom (more than 40 inches seat pitch in Standard class). The only times I would fly domestically is when trains take longer than 4 hours (Kyushu, Shikoku, or Hokkaido), or trains are simply not available (Okinawa).

Wish these kinds of domestic flights were everywhere! Not only is the experience great but the flights are so cheap.

Great video

Wouldn't an A330NEO make more sense in this role? They were designed for short haul operations after all.

Nice video! Any chance you can take a look at South Korea's Air Premia? It seems they have a very interesting low-cost long-haul product from the US/Europe to Seoul.

Great flight. Wide body aircraft for short haul flights, domestic or international, is definitely common in Asia. Selling regional version of wide body aircraft will be work in this continent.

I know.🙋 The fleet of A350 were purchased in 2015 for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Some of the events would be completed in various cities. Transportation between these cities could not be handled by the train system. The capacity of the A350 would make sense. However, no one expected COVID -19...

Are you sure that it's not Lufthansa's Saudi routes into Riyadh with the 340-500 who have the most business class seats? Not sure they are still operational though. Used to fly them a lot in the 2010s

Short haul is going to depreciate these (relatively) fast; limiting factor being pressurisation cycles rather than hours.

Hence why, back in the day, Japanese airlines have their own 747 version specifically designed for domestic flying, like the 747SR, 747-100BSR and 747-400D

I suppose to fly on ana non-er 777-300 which can carry more than 500 passengers. Unfortunately they will be replaced with 788-10 cause of ages. 😊😊

Nice video. Does anyone know how to find out about the most frequently departure flights from one airport to a specific region (filtered by continent or country) worldwide?

I'm still more impressed by Cebu Pacific a330 neo's 460 seat configuration. I wonder how many seats would fit in A359?

Former JAL pilot and aviation safety analyst Hiroyuki Kobayashi told Reuters the cause was likely pilot error. A published air traffic control transcript said the Dash-8 pilot did not have clearance to enter the active runway.

if only the pandemic hadn't had happen then maybe Mitsubishi would have proceeded with the SpaceJet even with the growing pains, and with the current turmoil with Boeing then they could have gotten a bit more market share in short-haul and regional flights. I would rather a Japanese company like Mitsubishi be a small but size-able player in the aviation market rather than the Chinese or worse the Russians.

JAL orders additional A350-900 as a great news will use international flights!

Jal and ana provide free wifi on their domestic flights, and its quite fast

Japan airlines just released the a350 long haul flight from Tokyo to new york

Due to the many pressurisation cycles these A350s are going to go through, they probably will only have a life of 10-15 years -ish i guess. Unlike the possible 15-20+ years if it was used for long haul flights. In Europe i can only think of a few wide bodied aircrafts used for short haul. BA 787 LHR to Athens, A350 Finnair LHR to Helsinki, Lufthansa 747 to Palma (during pandemic) and Singaore airlines with their 5th freedom flights. Please write in the comments below if anyone else knows of any other wide bodied intra EU flights

Have never flown JAL (or ANA, for that matter) short, but in cattle class, their long haul flights are exceptional. For us, JAL gets the nod on the seat in cattle and PE but ANA gets the nod for food in economy and PE. In business, we feel like JAL is better on both food and seat (though we’ve yet to get The Room in ANA Business.