Former Japanese Prime MinisterNoboru Takeshita deplanes from a JALMcDonnell Douglas DC-10 while on a state visit to the United States in 1989
In the 1980s the airline performed special flights for the Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michikoof Japan, Pope John Paul II and for Japanese prime ministers, until the introduction of the dedicated government aircraft using two Boeing 747-400, operated as Japanese Air Force One and Japanese Air Force Two. During that decade the airline introduced new Boeing 747-100SR, Boeing 747-SUD and Boeing 767 jets to the fleet, and retired the Boeing 727s and Douglas DC-8s.
In 1978 JAL started flights to São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro via Anchorage and San Juan; the stopover was changed to Los Angeles in 1982 and to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1999. Until 2009 the airline operated fifth-freedom flights between New York and São Paulo and between Vancouver and Mexico City.