TOKYO- Japan Airlines (JL) will fit its Boeing 787-9 fleet with the same doored business class suites already flying on its flagship Airbus A350-1000s. The upgrade covers 11 existing Dreamliners and ten new 787-9s arriving between 2028 and 2031.
The move lets the carrier standardise a single premium seat across its long-haul international network. The same suite will also reach the 20 Airbus A350-900s due from 2027, which will join JAL’s A350-1000s already serving New York (JFK) and London (LHR).
Japan Airlines New 787-9 Business Class Suites
According to Executive Traveller, Ross Legget, JAL’s Senior Vice President for Route Marketing, confirmed the plan on the sidelines of a media event in Honolulu (HNL) marking Hawaiian Airlines’ (HA) entry into the Oneworld alliance.
Legget said the 787-9 interiors will closely match the A350-1000 cabin now flying to New York and London. He noted the product will not be fully identical but will keep the same doored suite concept.
The seat is understood to be the Safran Unity platform, the same one installed on JAL’s A350-1000s. Riyadh Air (RX) already operates a customised 787 version of this seat, showing the design works on the narrower Dreamliner airframe.
Each suite carries walls measuring 1.3 metres (52 inches) for privacy. The A350-1000 experience will be replicated closely, including the miniature speakers built into the headrests.
Headrest Speakers and Cabin Features
The headrest speakers reproduce audio from the inflight entertainment system without headphones. They are designed to stop sound leaking beyond the suite walls, keeping neighbouring passengers undisturbed.
One feature remains uncertain. The in-suite personal wardrobe found on the A350-1000 may not fit the 787-9 because the Dreamliner cabin is slightly narrower. The A350-900s face no such limit and are set for exactly the same product as the larger A350-1000s.
Fleet Standardisation and Zipair Transfers
Ten more 787-9s will move to JAL’s low-cost arm Zipair (ZG) starting from 2027. This shift helps JAL focus its premium suites on core international routes while low-cost flying moves to its budget brands.
The 20 A350-900s arriving from 2027 to 2028 will handle international routes. They will complement the 17 A350s JAL already operates on domestic services, giving the airline a consistent premium fleet across regions.
Faster Wi-Fi Coming to the Fleet
Boeing confirmed its refit of JAL’s 787-9s will add connectivity modifications suitable for low-Earth orbit systems such as Starlink. Zipair already runs Starlink on all eight of its Dreamliners.
JAL itself will not switch to Starlink for now. Legget said the 787-9s will keep the current provider, a higher-orbit Panasonic Ku-band system that is slower than LEO options.
Panasonic and partner SES, formerly Intelsat, offer a hybrid multi-orbit system that taps high, medium, and low Earth orbit satellites. JAL has contracted this system for both its A350-900s and Boeing 787-9s.
Strong International Demand Drives the Investment
Legget said international flying is by far JAL’s biggest revenue generator, led by trans-Pacific and European routes. This premium-forward strategy across the A350 and 787-9 fleets supports growth on longer routes.
Shorter international routes remain harder. Legget pointed to services within a two- to three-hour radius, such as China, Korea, and Taiwan, where low-cost carriers have grown stronger.
JAL answers this pressure through its own budget subsidiaries, Zipair and Spring (IJ). The airline keeps low-cost flying on those brands and reserves the premium product for the JAL mainline network.
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