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Japan Airlines, Japanese airline that became one of the largest air carriers in the world. Founded in 1951, it was originally a private company. It was reorganized in 1953 as a semigovernmental public corporation and was privatized in 1987. It is headquartered in Tokyo.
At first a domestic carrier, JAL became an international airline in 1954, when it inaugurated flights to San Francisco. In the next 10 years it expanded its service to other cities in the United States and to Southeast Asia, Europe, India, the Middle East, and Australia. In the late 1960s JAL began round-the-world service, and in 1970 it became the first non-Soviet airline to fly a regular route over Siberia. In the 1980s its route network was extended to cover several cities in China. JAL also has affiliates that operate hotels and that offer package tours. In 1987 the Japanese government decided to sell off its shares in JAL, thus releasing the airline from government control.
JAL and the air carrier Japan Air System (JAS) agreed to merge in 2002. In 2004 JAL became Japan Airlines International (JAL International), and JAS became Japan Airlines Domestic (JAL Domestic). JAL International and JAL Domestic were unified in 2006 to form a single corporation, JAL International. In 2005 it joined oneworld, a global airline alliance. JAL filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010.
