Japan’s weak currency is a “big problem,” Japan Airlines Co. Chief Executive Officer Mitsuko Tottori said in a group interview, adding that a stronger rate than the current level of around ¥155 to the dollar would be better. “We often discuss that the yen at the 130 level will be good,” Tottori said at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday, adding that much of the airline’s expenses are in foreign currency. “It’s a big problem.” Tottori, a former flight attendant, became Japan Airlines’ first female president on April 1. The carrier announced last month an order to buy 42 new Boeing Co. and Airbus SE jets in a multibillion dollar order to expand its international network. The Japanese currency, which is trading at 34-year-low, is also hurting outbound travel, Tottori said. Younger people will venture less outside Japan because of the weaker yen, Tottori said. In conversations with other companies, the CEO said she hears that an exchange rate of ¥130 to ¥140 to the dollar would be more desirable. Although Airbus made up the larger share of the recent aircraft order, Japan Airlines won’t rely only on the European planemaker to build its fleet, Tottori said. Japan Airlines will seek to ensure that its Boeing orders are delivered on time; the US manufacturer has come under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators following a near-catastrophic blowout of a fuselage panel on a 737 Max 9 during flight in early January. “We still have reliable relations with Boeing and believe the company will be able to overcome the ongoing troubles,” Tottori said. “We have no intention to lean toward Airbus and will make choices that suit our business plans.”<br/>
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Mitsuko Tottori admits Japan has much more to do to get people like her into the chief executive seat. Tottori was named as the first female president and chief executive of Japan Airlines (JAL) in January, crowning a career that began nearly 40 years ago when she joined the airline as a flight attendant. Her rise is a rare feat in a nation where women still face major hurdles to promotion. “Japan is still in a place of establishing the initial goal to increase (the number of) female managers,” she told CNN in an interview at the airline’s headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday. “I hope that Japan will soon become a place where people are not surprised when a woman becomes a president.” “We do want to seriously increase the number of (women) managers, and more than that, I think it’s important that women themselves want to be active, so I really hope to see more and more of (them) in the future,” she added. Tottori, 59, began her career at the national carrier in 1985. Thirty years later, in 2015, she became senior director of cabin attendants and was steadily promoted up the ranks. Her background differs vastly from her predecessors. It is extremely rare for a former flight attendant to climb to the top job. Of the last 10 JAL presidents, seven graduated from the prestigious University of Tokyo. By contrast, Tottori attended the two-year Kwassui Women’s Junior College in Nagasaki, part of a network of institutions that has played a major role in women’s higher education. Tottori’s predecessor had a background in aviation maintenance, while the president before that started out as a pilot. Story has more. <br/>
Japan Airlines will continue using both Airbus nd Boeing aircraft, President Mitsuko Tottori said on Wednesday. Tottori told reporters that JAL does not plan to depend only on Airbus aircraft even after it announced a plan last month to buy 21 wide-body A350-900 and 11 A321neo narrow-body jets from Airbus. Tottori's comments came as U.S. planemaker Boeing faces growing concerns over its product safety following a January mid-air loss of a panel on a near-new its 737 MAX 9.<br/>