JAL Plans to Buy 11 Boeing Jets for $869 Million

Boeing Co. said Tuesday that Japan Air Lines signed letters of intent to buy 11 additional new jetliners worth $869 million, with some of them earmarked to replace aging Boeing 747s earlier than anticipated as a result of a 1985 crash that killed 520 people.

Japan Air Lines, which operates the world’s largest Boeing 747 fleet, already has five Boeing jets on firm order. It currently flies 54 Boeing 747s and 36 other aircraft.

JAL, which is 34.5% government-owned, is also expanding its fleet to face increased competition on its U.S.-to-Tokyo routes and to cope with a scheduled shift to a private company by next July.

“We’ve signed letters of intent, and the purchase order still needs to be confirmed,” JAL spokesman Geoffrey Tudor said.

Four of the newest jets will be short-range jumbos for domestic service. They will replace airliners slated for early retirement under a program instituted after the August, 1985, crash of a JAL 747 short-range model in central Japan.

These four and a fifth to be used for international service will be Seattle-based Boeing’s 747-300 model, which has a stretched upper deck. The order also includes six 270-seat 767-300s, two for international use and four for domestic service.

The 747s were valued at $500 million and the 767s at $369 million. If the purchase goes through, the six 767s would be delivered between next September and June, 1988, and the five jumbo jets from December, 1987, through 1989.

JAL did not say who would get the engine order, but the rest of its fleet is powered by Pratt & Whitney engines.

The short-range models were modified for JAL to carry additional passengers over domestic routes. In a series of safety-related studies following the 1985 crash of one of these--the worst single airplane accident in history--the company decided to shorten the aircraft’s anticipated life span by five years to a maximum of 15 years.

“To keep them flying after that would require expensive modifications” that the airline has decided are not cost-effective, Tudor said.