- JAL flight J-A-ten-W-J returned to the skies for a test flight following a two-hundred-twenty-seven-day grounding.
- The Airbus A-three-fifty-one-thousand suffered cockpit damage during a ground collision at J-F-K in December twenty twenty-five.
- Commercial operations are expected to resume in August, with the London Heathrow route starting October first, twenty twenty-six.
JAL flew its repaired Airbus A350-1000, registration JA10WJ, for the first time since the JFK collision on July 29, 2026, ending a 227-day grounding at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The aircraft operated test flight JL8181. It departed JFK at 12:39 PM and returned at 4:21 PM, completing a flight lasting three hours and 43 minutes.
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The test flight marked the first time JA10WJ had flown since the ground accident. JAL has not publicly confirmed when the aircraft will leave New York or re-enter commercial service.
JAL expects the jet to return to passenger operations in August 2026. The carrier has also indicated that its Haneda to London Heathrow schedule will use the type from October 1, 2026.
The aircraft had remained at JFK since the incident. It was only five months old.
At about 00:40 local time on December 14, 2025, ground staff were towing a Hi Fly Malta Airbus A330-200, registration 9H-ALC, when it contacted the parked aircraft in a designated maintenance area. Israeli carrier Arkia Airlines had chartered the A330.
JAL described the incident in a December 17 release:
"At approximately 00:40 on December 14, 2025 (local time), an Airbus A330 operated by another airline which was being towed, contacted the left-side cockpit window of a Japan Airlines aircraft, JA10WJ, which was properly parked in a designated area at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) for maintenance."
The damage extended beyond the cockpit windows. It also affected the left pitot tube and the lower area around the first left-side passenger door.
Arkia notified passengers after the incident, while Hi Fly provided a replacement aircraft for the carrier’s JFK to Tel Aviv operation.
The five-month-old aircraft removed one of JAL’s few A350-1000s from service
JA10WJ had entered the fleet after delivery in July 2025. It was one of only 10 A350-1000s operated by JAL at the time, making its prolonged absence a direct capacity issue for the carrier’s international network.
The aircraft serves as JAL’s new flagship and is intended to replace the Boeing 777-300ER. Its grounding forced the airline to revise schedules through February 2026.
The initial disruption affected passengers and routes in several ways:
| Impact | Reported figure or detail |
|---|---|
| Passengers affected | 3,144 between December 19 and December 23, 2025 |
| International flights canceled or modified | 16 |
| Markets affected | London, New York, Singapore, Los Angeles, and Dallas-Fort Worth |
| Longest reported delays | Up to 16 hours |
| Schedule changes | Revisions through February 2026, including cancellation of JL005/JL006 between Haneda and JFK |
JAL also substituted Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on some services to cover the missing capacity. The schedule changes followed the aircraft’s removal from a fleet with only 10 examples of the type.
JAL executives accepted temporary pay cuts after regulatory guidance
In early 2026, President and CEO Mitsuko Tottori, Safety Manager Yukio Nakagawa, and other executives accepted temporary pay cuts after Japanese regulators issued a series of maintenance and safety-related “Administrative Guidance” measures that included the JFK incident as a point of concern.
Tottori addressed the company’s safety responsibilities in broader messages following the incident and other fleet issues:
"Even as technology advances, we will always keep in mind that the last line of defense for safety lies in people."
The aircraft’s test flight provides the first operational sign that the repair process has reached its flight-testing stage. JAL’s October schedule offers the next published milestone, when the Haneda to London Heathrow route is expected to transition fully to A350-1000 service.
