Japan Airlines has confirmed plans to launch a medium- to long-haul low cost carrier (LCC) with a target date of 2019/2020. Launch of the LCC operation serving Asia, Europe  and the Americas was orginally announced in mid-2018.

Creation of the new carrier — which would initially operate two Boeing 787s based at Tokyo Narita — is included in the updated version of the company's Medium Term Management Plan – Rolling Plan 2019, released on 25th February. It is described as one of three actions under a network expansion initiative to be implemented over the next two years :

- prepare for functional improvements at Haneda and Narita airport scheduled in time for the Tokyo Olympics in FY2020;
- expand partnerships with global airlines to serve 500 cities by FY2020;
- continue to refine the full service carrier business, create new market demand with the launch of the mid to long-haul LCC carrier, further develop partnerships with Japan domestic and short-haul LCC partners.

Jetstar Japan, in which JAL is a stakeholder, will continue to focus on the short-haul segment.

JAL also aims to make further progress within the smart airport concept in the 2020 timeframe through the introduction of self-service check-in machines, self-service baggage drop areas and the use of facial recognition technology for international passengers.

JAL also underlines that Rolling Plan 2019 will focus on concrete actions to prevent the recurrence of a series of alcohol-related incidents reported in 2018. The company promises to act swiftly to rebuild the foundation for a safe and secure operational structure.