JAL to roll out JAL SKY NEXT service on May 24 2014

Back in October 2013, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced the details of its next generation domestic products dubbed JAL SKY NEXT with all leather seats, mood lighting and inflight Wi-Fi in all classes. Now we are finally given the launch date and route of JAL SKY NEXT! The first plane retrofitted with the JAL SKY NEXT cabin will be a Boeing 777-200 and it will enter service on May 28 2014, initially flying between Tokyo Haneda (HND) and Fukuoka (FUK) 3 times a day. 

The JAL SKY NEXT schedule between May 28 and June 30 2014 is as follow.

JL303 HND 07:25 - FUK 08:15

JL315 HND 12:25 - FUK 14:15

JL325 HND 17:25 - FUK 19:15

Fukuoka - Tokyo Haneda 

JL332 FUK 20:00 - HND 21:35

However, the JAL SKY Wi-Fi service won't be available until July 2014, pending product rollout from GoGo who is the domestic Wi-Fi service provider. 

HND-FUK being picked as the launch route is no coincident. Other than the fact that it was one of the launch routes of the original JAL Domestic First Class, the recent service upgrade from SKYMARK might have something to do with this. Currently SKYMARK is planning to introduce its brand new Airbus 330 equipped with "Green Seats on the HND-FUK route on May 30. These Green Seats are comparable to JAL's Class J seats with seat pitch of 38 inches. So JAL will be upgrading its HND-FUK offerings ahead of SKYMARK's rollout.

JAL plans to introduce a total of 77 aircraft with JAL SKY NEXT interior. Further details on rollout schedule and JAL SKY Wi-Fi will be announced in mid-May.

For more details, you can refer to JAL Press Release (Japanese, English) or the JAL SKY NEXT special site (Japanese, English)