TOKYO — Usually when Japanese airlines need to buy a big plane, they go to Boeing. Not this time.
Japan Airlines ordered its first Airbus jets Monday. It’s buying 31 A350s, the European plane maker’s new long-range, fuel-efficient jet. JAL also has an option to buy 25 more Airbus planes.
Monday’s deal is the first for the A350 in Japan and marks a big change in policy for JAL. Boeing had been the airline’s major supplier for decades and has dominated Japan’s aviation market for decades.
“If there’s one place Boeing could have regarded as a secure market, it was Japan,” said aerospace consultant Richard Aboulafia of the Teal Group.
The order is worth $9.5 billion at list prices, although discounts are common. Some analysts even think that JAL may be getting the planes for below cost as Airbus looks to make inroads in Boeing’s domain.
The U.S. and Japan have been big trading partners since the end of World War II. And to strengthen its ties with Japanese airlines, Boeing has been shifting more and more work to Japanese suppliers.
