European Aircraft Industries: Japan Airlines CFO: Airbus was just 'better' - by Katie Hollid

Airbus A-350

After French aviation manufacturer Airbus won a tense battle against Boeing for the business of Japan's second largest airline last year, the firm's chief financial officer told CNBC Airbus was just "better."

Japan Airlines announced its first jet order for the French aircraft manufacturer in October for 31 A350 aircraft worth $9.5 billion, breaking into an aviation market which had been dominated by rival Boeing.

"We needed a successor to our largest aircraft, the 777. When we compared what both Boeing and Airbus had to offer, Airbus was better," managing executive officer of finance & accounting Norikazu Saito told CNBC. "It may have been a disappointment to Boeing, but they of course understand that business is business."

Saito told CNBC that the biggest payoff from working with Airbus would be increased economic efficiency, although there would be some complications with owning two different brands of aircraft.

"Pilots need to have different licenses; you need to have spare parts for both manufacturers. But even taking all those things into account, Airbus was the better choice," he said.

JAL faced some negative publicity earlier in the year when it temporarily grounded one of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners at Tokyo's Narita International Airport in mid-January, after white smoke was spotted outside the plane and a battery cell showed clear signs of leaking.

Read more: Japan Airlines CFO: Airbus was just 'better'

Aircraft Industry: Boeing 787: Dreamliner flight halted in Japan because of battery problem

Japan Airlines Co. pulled a Boeing 787 from its scheduled flight Sunday night and replaced it with a 767 after it detected a faulty sensor in one of the recently replaced lithium-ion batteries.

The fault which affected the Tokyo-Beijing flight on Sunday was caused by tape that had been mistakenly left over the pressure sensor when Boeing engineers installed the new batteries, Japan Airlines said in a press release. No fault occurred in the battery, the airline said.

The incident, although minor, comes just after Japan Airlines and its local rival ANA, which together operate half of the world's 787s, returned the jet to service and may hamper efforts by them to allay travelers' concerns.

The Boeing Co. jet is one of 50 Dreamliners that were grounded for more than three months after batteries, one on a parked Japan Airlines 787 in Boston and another aboard an ANA Holdings plane during flight in Japan, overheated.
Read more: Boeing 787 battery: Dreamliner flight halted in Japan because of battery problem - chicagotribune.com