DOHA, Qatar (Reuters) –A senior executive at Japan Airlines (JAL) said on Tuesday that the company will decide in a year or two how to replace its ageing fleet of Boeing (NYSE:BA) Co 767s and Embraer SA (NYSE:ERJ) regional jets.
Ross Leggett, the airline’s head of route marketing, international relations, and alliances, said that JAL will look at the 787 and Airbus SE (OTC: EADSY) A321neo families as possible replacements for its 767 fleet, as well as the A220 and E2 models for regional jets.
“We have a fairly large 787 fleet, so we haven’t really thought about whether an A321 could be used well in Asia as well,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of an airline industry meeting in Doha.
On its website, JAL says that it has 31 767s, 18 Embraer E-170s, and 14 E-190s in its fleet.
Leggett said that the airline’s domestic capacity was back to 100% of what it was before the pandemic in May, even though demand was only about 85% to 95% of what it was in 2019.
China, South Korea, and Taiwan have all but shut down their markets, and Japan limits the number of people who can enter each day. This means that the international market is only about 65% as big as it was before the pandemic.
Junichiro Miyagawa, ANA’s executive vice president in charge of alliances and international affairs, said that domestic demand at ANA Holdings, a competitor, is about 80% of what it was before the pandemic.