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Japan Air System (JAS, 日本エアシステム) was the smallest of the Big 3 Japanese airlines. Its IATA designator was JD. In contrast to JAL and ANA, its international route network was very small, but its domestic network incorporated many smaller airports that were not served by the two larger airlines.
The company was originally formed as TOA Domestic Airlines (TDA) in a merger between TOA Airways and Japan Domestic in 1971. In 1988 the current name Japan Air System (JAS) was taken up.
JAS was famous for its variety of aircraft liveries. Many of its color schemes in the 1990s were designed by film director Akira Kurosawa and incorporated abstract, rainbow-like images.
Japanese airlines had kept the Big 3 (Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and JAS) structure for many years. But in 2001, Japan Air System (JAS) and Japan Airlines (JAL), the largest of the Big 3, agreed to merge.
On October 2, 2002, JAS and JAL established a new holding company which was called Japan Airlines System (日本航空システム) and they were reborn as the new Japan Airlines (JAL) group. Airplane liveries were changed to match the design of the new JAL group. At that time, the new JAL group was the sixth largest in the world by passengers carried and the third largest measured by revenue.
On April 1, 2003, Japan Airlines (old JAL) changed its name to Japan Airlines International and Japan Air System (JAS) changed its name to Japan Airlines Domestic. Japan Airlines System was renamed to Japan Airlines Corporation to make the most of the JAL brand. At the same time, all JAS flight codes, check-in desks and plane were unified into JAL, and the Japan Air System brand officially ceased to exist.
At the time of its integration into JAL, JAS was operating Airbus A300, Boeing 777, and McDonnell Douglas MD-90 aircraft among others.
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