Japan Airlines Officially Retires Its Boeing 777 PW4000 Fleet, Replaced By Airbus SE A350

JAKARTA - The airline Japan Airlines (JAL) said that they have retired their entire Boeing 777 fleet with 13 Pratt & Whitney (PW) engines.

This decision is a year ahead of the original plan, after previously stopping the operation of this type of aircraft in February, following an incident that occurred on a United Airlines plane in Denver, United States.

"Japan Airlines has decided to accelerate the shutdown of all Boeing 777 equipped P&W by March 2021, from originally planned for March 2022", the Japanese airline said on Monday in a notice on their website, cited from Reuters.

JAL said that they will use the newer Airbus SE A350 on domestic routes to Osaka Itami Airport, as well as use international aircraft for other domestic routes to help to maintain flight frequency.

However, the demand for airlines across the industry is currently lower than usual due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including in Japan.

The Japanese airline had its own incident with a PW4000 engine in December when a malfunction forced a JAL 777 bound for Tokyo to return to Naha Airport.

The PW4000 engine is only found in a small number of older Boeing 777 fleets operated by JAL, United Airlines Holdings Inc, ANA Holdings Inc, Korean Air Lines Co Ltd, Asiana Airlines Inc, and Jin Air Co Ltd.

Separately, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in February ordered an immediate inspection of its Boeing 777 fleet with PW4000 engines, prior to further flights, after the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found fractured fan blades on United flights consistent with metal fatigue.

A spokesman for Pratt, which is owned by Raytheon Technologies Corp, in February said the fan blades needed to be sent to its repair station in East Hartford, Connecticut, for inspection, including from airlines in Japan and South Korea.

Analysts said airlines may speed up their policy of retiring its Boeing 777 PW4000 fleet, as additional checks are needed.