Summary

  • The FAA granted a temporary waiver to Japan Airlines for flights between Osaka and Los Angeles.
  • The waiver extends from March 31 to October 26, covering flights from Osaka Kansai International Airport (KIX) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
  • Japan Airlines has 19 weekly departures from LAX to three airports in Japan.

Japan Airlines has successfully petitioned for a waiver at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which granted the airline a waiver from the use-it-or-lose-it flight schedule rule for flight JL60/69 from/to Osaka Kansai International Airport (KIX) from March 31, 2024 to October 26.

Force majeure situation

According to the United States Department of Transportation’s (DOT) filing, the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) published a waiver that provided relief from the use-it-or-lose-it (U/L) rule in January 2024. The waiver was effective for the current Summer season, which began on March 31 and will end on October 26, with the JCAB arguing that airlines had to get relief from the rule due to a force majeure situation that was,

“[…] beyond the control of the airlines, including, Russian airspace restrictions, aircraft maintenance required due to failure of Pratt & Whitney engines, and a shortage of airport ground handling personnel in Japan and foreign countries.”

Japan Airlines Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

Using the opportunity, Japan Airlines filed a petition for the prioritization of canceled flights at LAX, citing the lack of ground handling employees in Japan and reciprocity for JCAB’s U/L waiver. The airline handed back the scheduled timings of flight JL60 from KIX to LAX and flight JL69 from LAX to KIX, the filing read.

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Level 2 airport

The filing cited the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which explained that LAX was a Level 2 airport. As a result, while such facilities, including the Californian airport, do not have slots, the schedule facilitation at such airports depends upon close and continuing discussions and voluntary agreements between the airlines and the US regulator to reduce congestion.

“At Level 2 airports, the FAA generally provides priority consideration for flights approved by FAA and operated by the carrier in those approved times in the prior scheduling season when the FAA reviews proposed flights for facilitation in the next corresponding scheduling season.”

Thus, the FAA stated that the flights that it had actually approved to operate in the prior scheduling season would receive priority for the corresponding scheduling season. Since Japan Airlines was a carrier based in a country that has provided relief from the U/L rule and there have been resource limitations that were beyond the airline’s control, the FAA concluded that there was enough reason to provide relief to the carrier, which would establish the operational baseline for the next summer season.

Japan Airlines Boeing 777-300ER

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

However, the relief is subject to two conditions, namely that Japan Airlines must return previously approved schedules at any Level 2 airports in advance to the FAA and that the schedules approved for initial use during the current summer season are not eligible for relief.

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Japan Airlines’ LAX schedule

According to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium, Japan Airlines has 19 weekly departures from LAX to three airports in Japan, with five weekly flights to KIX, and seven flights each to Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) and Narita International Airport (NRT) in June 2024.

Japan Airlines Boeing 787

Photo: Vincenzo Pace | Simple Flying

The airline’s schedule from LAX to the three destinations in Japan amounts to 4,268 weekly departing seats and 38.1 million weekly departing available seat kilometers (ASK), with Japan Airlines averaging 224.6 departing seats. Other airports within California that it serves include San Diego International Airport (SAN) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

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