A meticulous approach to service and safety

How is 2024 shaping up?

Several forces are at play. After three years, we have completely recovered from the COVID downturn. Inbound travel to Japan has recovered particularly well, even if Asian countries returned to travel at a slower pace than the rest of the world due to lingering restrictions. The weak yen has made Japan very affordable for overseas visitors.

The trade-off is that it has also made it more difficult for the Japanese to travel abroad. And the market for business travel is adjusting to the reality of remote working. If people don’t need to go to the office every day, they also don’t need to travel as frequently for meetings.

Overall, I am optimistic, supported by a gradual increase in demand. That expectation is reflected in the joint venture agreement that we signed with Garuda Indonesia. This will help us expand our network. And it is part of a growing number of partnerships in the aviation industry that help us to offer greater choice and convenience to consumers by leveraging the strength of our airline partnerships and alliances.

The growth of tourism in Japan has been amazing—from six million a year in 2004 to over 30 million this year. How many more tourists can Japan take? And how accepting is the local community?

The government Is aiming for 60 million tourists annually by 2030, or five million a month. We are doing our best to support that target. That is a big change for us considering that previously our target customers were mainly business travelers and outbound tourists. The weaker yen is helping this change.

Japan has abundant tourism resources, and we believe that demand will continue to grow. By 2030, we aim to increase international flights 1.4 times compared with today’s level. That growth will be a combination of JAL, our full-service offering, and ZIPAIR, our low-cost international offering.

With such growth, issues do crop up. For example, there is a natural concentration of visitors to Kyoto, which has many beautiful attractions. And there are some local complaints about overcrowding. I think that the friction over this can be reduced by promoting the dispersion of travelers to other regional destinations in Japan.

For our part, we are trying to provide convenient access to all Japan for those who choose to travel by air. But is not just a matter of JAL adding flights—the ground support for tourism also needs to be in place. The solution will come through the cooperation at all levels of government with airlines, hotels, attractions, and other tourism-related industries. Everyone will benefit, so there is good motivation to work together.

One issue is the concentration in urban areas, so we would like to promote dispersal to rural areas and create an environment where inbound customers can use domestic flights. In addition, we need to deal with ground handling to support this, and we need cooperation between the national government, local governments, hotels, and other industries.

How about the cargo business?

JAL got out of the dedicated freighter business in 2011 at the time of our bankruptcy. I am excited that we are now re-entering this sector. Japan is surrounded by water so there is a natural demand for air cargo. And we are seeing particular growth in the shipment of pharmaceuticals, fresh produce, and e-commerce.

We are getting an additional boost in Japan from regulatory reforms that have shortened working hours for truck drivers. In the face of a shortage of drivers, domestic air cargo is getting a boost.

We are moving cautiously, starting with a single freighter and a business model that seeks to limit risk. That also means that we don’t expect a big and immediate profit contribution from air cargo. But we will monitor the situation and adjust to meet market demands, with the expectation of cargo becoming a stable profit maker.

How is JAL approaching the challenge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050?

The entire company believes that we must achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This is not, however, something that JAL can achieve alone. To realize net zero, we are working with aircraft manufacturers, oil refiners, new technology ventures, and others.

Our focus is on developing a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market in Japan. It isn’t progressing as fast as we would like. We cannot get the quantities we need, and the price is still very high. The government understands the challenge and is providing policy support. And the private sector has a cross-industry project to move forward.

We don’t yet have all the solutions. But, by recognizing issues as they arise and working together, I am confident that we will get to where we need to be by 2050.

And we must always keep in mind what our customers want. Public awareness of climate change in Japan is increasing, especially among the younger generation. They know it is a problem and that Japan needs to be a part of the solution. For aviation, it is important that they understand the solutions we are pursuing and understand the costs involved.

How is JAL affected by the supply bottlenecks that many airlines are experiencing?

We are expecting 42 new aircraft—A350s and Boeing 787s—to fulfil our business plan. Any delays in their delivery will have a big impact on our business. Some of this can be mitigated by using current aircraft for longer. But the only real solution is the manufacturers sorting out their problems. We need them to do this quickly.

Is Japan facing a shortage of labor, particularly as the population ages? And, if so, how much of it could be solved with a better gender balance in aviation, particularly in technical and management roles?

Demand for labor in Japan is growing again after the very difficult COVID years. There are lots of reasons why a career in aviation should be appealing. It is a wonderful industry. It helps people. And it is a part of our social infrastructure. But as the labor market conditions are tight, we also need to improve our offer to prospective employees, look for talent on the international market, and find efficiencies—with technology and extended retirement ages to 68, as in the case of pilots. The latter is also particularly useful for maintenance and airport operations.

Our reputation as an employer is being helped by JAL’s emphasis on preserving employment during the pandemic. Early in the COVID crisis we declared that we would protect employment without layoffs. We survived the crisis with the JAL family still together. That is important and it has meaning for both current employees and new recruits.

I am also keenly aware that we need to be a work environment that allows diverse human resources to feel motivated and achieve their best. The numbers tell us that we still have some work to do, but we are on track for over 30% of our managers to be female by next year.

You mentioned technology as helping to improve industry efficiency. Will artificial intelligence (AI) contribute to that?

I don’t think the aviation industry is good at AI. I know, however, that it is necessary for future growth. For example, to deal with an increasingly diverse customer base, we need effective communications and marketing capabilities. AI can help with this.

We have lots of data on maintenance. AI can help with predictive maintenance so we can address problems before their symptoms appear. Better weather models and data sharing when combined with AI can help us to avoid turbulence.

JAL is still maturing in our AI capabilities. But we have a JAL AI initiative that will help us to do repetitive tasks faster, and support more challenging decisions with data analysis.

The tragic loss of an A350 at Haneda started 2024. The effective evacuation of the aircraft before it burned was hailed as a miracle. What did JAL learn from this accident?

The cause of this accident is still under investigation. The evacuation was successful because of clear guidance from the crew and cooperation by the customers. People did not panic or bring their luggage with them. These two factors were very important.

Don’t underestimate the role of training in this. A JAL flight was the largest single aircraft disaster in aviation history. Over 500 people perished when JL123 crashed in 1985. We have included lessons from that and all safety incidents in our training. As a former member of cabin crew, I know how much effort we put into making training as effective as possible by always asking what we could have done to make a situation better.

We knew from recent evacuations that carrying luggage is a problem. So, we trained the crew a lot in this area to manage the situation. We also included it in the safety video with an explanation that carrying luggage can damage the evacuation slides or slow down the process. These efforts proved successful. Videos from the accident even showed that passengers, seeing the authority of the crew, helped by relaying the evacuation instructions among their fellow travelers—telling each other not to carry luggage. That level of cooperation also probably benefited from the character of the Japanese people who where the majority of those onboard.

We take the lives of our passengers into our care and so it is our mission and responsibility to look after them.

You are now JAL’s first female CEO. How powerful is that as a symbol of progress on gender equality in Japan?

There are two sides, one for yourself and one for the outside world. I see myself as a person with a job to do, without being particularly conscious of my gender. But I know that some parts of society do not see it that way. I am aware of the important message that I carry with my current role for the outside world. I hope that what I am doing will be seen as an invitation for other women to aspire to do the same and inspire managers to develop the women in their businesses.

There is a long way to go. Only 13 of the 1,643 companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Price market are run by women—0.8% (as of FY2023 ). The country also wants more women to play active roles in companies, not just as presidents. And the aging population here makes the contribution of every worker important. We are working hard to eliminate all disparities, including in salary. JAL is making progress and so are other companies. The pace of change is also increasing. But it will still take some time before we get to a 50-50 balance. Real change starts with new recruits building careers.

What has your first six months as CEO been like? Can you still keep balance in your life?

I’m honestly surprised at the reaction from those around me. The fact that I was a flight attendant and that I’m a woman but am now the CEO is something that has never happened before. My appointment attracted a lot more attention than I expected.

I am still getting used to the scope of the CEO’s responsibility. Looking after a division involves a lot of responsibility but that is increased many times as a CEO. So, I am training on how to prioritize what needs my attention. I’m studying and preparing a lot, but I try to keep a balance and take as much time for myself as possible.

What is the most important quality for a leader?

There are various styles of leadership. Top-down leaders can be very successful. But it’s not exactly my style. I am not the only one with ideas. I don’t have experience in a wide range of tasks. So, for me, it is important to gather many opinions to make the best-informed decision. The trick is doing that with speed. Of course, I rely on the whole team, but when a decision has to be made, I know that it is my job to make it.

Do you have any personal goals as CEO?

JALs attitude to facing challenges may be a little too passive or cautious. Probably that is connected to our bankruptcy. I want to create an environment at JAL where everyone can take on challenges and is not afraid of failure. I want to make it a company where employees can maximize the abilities of the many talents they have. That will make for a livelier JAL and start a virtuous circle that I believe will also be appreciated by our customers.

Any last message?

My career until now has been next to the customer, from flight attendant to leading the customer experience division. I deeply value the customer perspective. And I value and feel the weight of our duty to safety. I pay attention to even the smallest details, believing that safety vulnerabilities can emerge from seemingly insignificant things, as we learned from tragedies like the Mount Osutaka accident. Safety is in the details. I want to maintain a sense of vigilance as a kind of positive tension, so that we are always alert to potential safety lapses, no matter how small.

 

Credit | Japan Airlines

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