JAL is launching a low-cost carrier offering medium to long-haul flights, aiming to tap growing Asian demand for budget air travel. The new airline will be based at Narita International Airport and will offer flights to Asia, Europe and the Americas, JAL said Monday. The as-yet unnamed airline plans to start flying in the summer of 2020 with two wide-body Boeing 787-8 aircraft. JAL will invest 10b to 20b yen ($91.44m to $182.88m) in the business, with the aim of reaching profitability within three years from the launch, the company said. Budget flights have been slow to take off in Japan, which is dominated by full-service carriers JAL and ANA and has a sophisticated high-speed rail network, but with growing numbers of Asia travellers taking to the air the two Japanese airlines are looking to expand their low-cost offerings. “Full-service airlines typically have high costs, but in Japan this is especially so,” said Will Horton, senior analyst at research consultancy CAPA Center for Aviation. “Japan needs new platforms to capture foreign visitors. They are not like the Japanese who are sticky in wanting to fly a costly Japanese full-service airline.” The new long-distance carrier is a totally different proposition from Jetstar Japan, which “is purely short-distance”, JAL’s new President Yuji Akasaka said. Jetstar Japan has given its approval for the move, the president said.<br/>
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A Sichuan Airlines flight made an emergency landing in the southwest Chinese city of Chengdu on Monday after a windshield on the right side of the jet’s cockpit broke off, China’s aviation authority said. No passengers were injured in the incident but the pilot sitting in the right seat, who is usually the first officer, suffered scratches and a waist sprain, the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC) Southwest Regional Administration said on its website. A cabin crew member was also injured in the descent, it added, without providing details on what had caused the windshield to break off. The flight, Sichuan Airlines 3U8633, left the central Chinese municipality of Chongqing on Monday morning and was bound for the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, the authority said. According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft was an Airbus A319. A spokeswoman for Airbus said that the planemaker would provide all necessary support upon request by the CAAC and Sichuan Airlines. Sichuan Airlines said on its official Weibo account that the flight had experienced a “mechanical failure” without providing further details. It said it had switched the flight’s passengers to another aircraft to carry on their journey to Lhasa. Pictures published by government-run Chengdu Economic Daily showed the plane missing one of its cockpit windows and damage to its cockpit controls. <br/>
American Airlines joined other major airlines Monday in restricting emotional-support animals allowed to fly with passengers. The changes followed Delta tightening its leash in January and United in February. Airlines decided to revise their own rules after a DoT panel was unable to reach a compromise in 2016. Emotional-support animals fell under a looser definition than trained service animals, such as for the blind or deaf, while still travelling for free in the cabin rather than being shipped in cargo. Delta said its changes came as the airline carried about 250,000 animals last year that were increasingly misbehaving by wandering the cabin, defecating or even biting passengers. Starting July 1, American will require passengers to notify the carrier about a comfort animal 48 hours before a flight, and then sign a waiver stating the need for the animal. In order for an animal to qualify, the passenger must provide a letter from a mental-health professional describing the mental or emotional disability that shows the need for the animal, and proof of the professional’s licensing. Comfort animals must fit at a passenger’s feet without occupying a seat or blocking an aisle, under the policy. The animals must be tethered by a leash or harness at all times and won’t be permitted in the cabin if they behave badly, such as by growling, lunging or attempting to bite people, the airline said.<br/>