JAL to preserve part of aircraft from Haneda Airport collision

Japan Airlines is considering preserving part of the jetliner burned after colliding with a Japan Coast Guard aircraft at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport last week as a reminder of the fatal accident to raise safety awareness within the company, a JAL official said Wednesday.

The collision on a runway at the airport killed five of the six people aboard the coast guard’s Bombardier DHC8-300 aircraft and left its captain severely injured, while all 379 passengers and crew on the JAL Airbus A350-900 managed to escape.

The carrier will formally decide on whether to keep part of the wreckage depending on the course of the investigation by the Japan Transport Safety Board and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the official said.

Even if JAL decides to save it, the company is likely to keep only a selected portion of the remains of its aircraft, given the extensive damage and high storage costs.

JAL is known for showcasing at its facility in Tokyo parts of the aircraft and personal belongings from a crash in 1985 that remains the deadliest single-aircraft accident in history, with 520 lives lost.

The wreckage from the latest crash was cleared from the runway on Sunday and is now stored at the airline’s facility at the airport.

The collision occurred at Japan’s busiest airport at 5:47 p.m. on Jan. 2, with everyone aboard the JAL plane evacuated by 6:05 p.m.

The escape of all the passengers and crew has been widely praised, with some foreign media describing it as a “miracle.” The aircraft was subsequently engulfed in flames.