JAL will acquire 65 aircrafts in the next 5 years, expect whining from ANA

According to jiji.com (via The Economic Times), Japan Airlines (JAL) will spend 241.5 billion yen in the next 5 years to buy small/mid-sized fuel efficient aircraft.

It has always been the plan of JAL to switch to smaller aircraft to improve fuel efficiency. According to the report, retiring larger and less fuel efficient planes such as the 747-400 alone will save JAL 100 billion yen in fuel expenses in the next 5 years and raise 62.5 billion yen from the sales of those aircraft. With the help of ETIC, JAL will buy 18 787-8's by 2015, 29 737-800's, 9 767-300ER's and 9 Embraer 170's. This confirms the cancellation of the unfilled 777 orders that I found out few days ago.

According to JAL spokeswoman Sze Hunn Yap,

"JAL is shifting towards the use of smaller, more fuel-efficient aircraft. The fleet review will be addressed in the Revitalization Plan which we aim to submit by the end of August"

If this is true, expect whining from ANA which has been complaining about the bailout and use of government funding to buy aircraft (or to use that to do anything). So you just expect JAL to take the money, implement lots of cost saving and not spend anything to improve their fleet and products? Let's see how much whining we will get this time.