Originally Posted by
lovejapan
Unless I am mistaken, JAL remains the only 787 operator flying an 8 abreast economy configuration. How long can they remain that way before they need to change and follow their competitors?
They are also running their 777 9 abreast. So far they have stated that they don't intend to change that. And the current economy class seating is a strong part of their marketing effort.
Currently, JAL is fairly profitable. So the exact and yet very unclear answer is "As long as JAL can get a premium price for their product" Japan is a rather protected air transport market, and there are some very strong brand preferences meaning JAL's situation is very diffrent from most Airlines.