Japan Asia Airways

Japan Asia Airways

Japan Asia Airways, Co., Ltd. (日本アジア航空株式会社, Nihon Ajia Kōkū Kabushiki-gaisha?) (JAA) is a defunct subsidiary of Japan Airlines (JAL) which existed between 1975 and 2008. JAA was headquartered in the Japan Airlines Building in Shinagawa, Tokyo.

JAA was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of JAL on 8 August 1975 and given the responsibility of providing air links between Japan and Taiwan, the Republic of China (ROC) formerly offered by JAL. This move was prompted as a compromise by the threat from the People's Republic of China not to grant traffic rights to JAL for its proposed services to mainland China. Similar arrangements were later made by Air France, British Airways, KLM, Qantas and Swissair for their services to Taipei.

In 1985 JAA was headquartered in the Yurakucho-Denki Building in Chiyoda, Tokyo, in a facility apart from the JAL headquarters in the Tokyo Building in Chiyoda.

For the facts that Taiwanese aircraft are now permitted to serve selected destinations in mainland China in the form of "cross-straits charters" since 2007 and JAL is no longer a state-owned company, the new 2007 Japan-Taiwan air transport agreement led JAL to liquidate JAA as a cost-saving measure and to normalize Japan-Taiwan flight status. JAA flew its last flights on March 31, 2008, and all its flights were taken over by JAL since April 1, 2008.