Japanese Air Force One

On the ground at New Chitose Airport

Japanese Air Force One and Japanese Air Force Two are the radio callsigns of the two Boeing 747 aircraft used by the government of Japan for overseas travel by the Emperor, Prime Minister and other high-ranking officials. Each aircraft has a capacity of 140 passengers and can be used for emergency evacuations of Japanese citizens and overseas deployment of Japan Self-Defense Forces personnel.

The aircraft are officially referred to as dedicated Japanese government aircraft (日本国政府専用機, Nippon-koku seifu sen'yōki) and have the callsigns Cygnus One and Cygnus Two when operating outside of official business (e.g., on training flights). The aircraft always fly together on government missions, with one serving as the primary transport and the other serving as a backup with maintenance personnel on board. The aircraft use the same General Electric CF6-80C2 turbofan engines used by the American Air Force One.

History

During the early postwar era, the Japanese government generally used the state-chartered international airline, Japan Airlines, for official trips overseas.

In flight

The Japanese government began investigating the possibility of purchasing dedicated government transport aircraft during the 1970s. Much of the impetus came from problems in using JAL: labor unions were unwilling to put aircrews at risk in missions to evacuate Japanese citizens from overseas, and often objected to transporting members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces overseas for political reasons. The privatization of JAL in the mid-1980s hastened the process.

The Cabinet of Japan decided to purchase two Boeing 747-400 aircraft in 1987 in order to have aircraft with worldwide operating range. The government also hoped that purchasing large American aircraft for this purpose would help ease trade deficit concerns then arising between Japan and the US.

Both aircraft were delivered in the fall of 1991. Kiichi Miyazawa was the first prime minister to use the 747 when he visited the US in 1993; the Emperor used the aircraft for the first time later that year.

German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder joined Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi aboard the aircraft in 2002 in order to attend the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals in Yokohama, to which Germany advanced while Schroeder was attending a G8 summit in Canada. The operation, hastily improvised due to difficulties in flying the German government's Airbus A310 aircraft from Canada to Japan, was called "hitchhiking diplomacy" in the Japanese media. This was the first time a foreign head of government had flown on the aircraft.

The aircraft were used to transport relief workers to the area of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake in New Zealand. Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara offered use of the aircraft to evacuate Japanese nationals on the return flight, but was forced to withdraw this offer when the foreign ministry pointed out that there was not enough space for all of them on board.

In January 2011, Prime Minister Naoto Kan was criticized for using the aircraft for a trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos while 500 Japanese nationals were stranded in the midst of civil unrest in Cairo. The Weekly Asahi tabloid newspaper stated that the Foreign Ministry had requested use of the aircraft for evacuation purposes but that Kan had rejected the request citing the priority of the Davos mission. Kan denied that such a discussion had taken place, and the Foreign Ministry stated that the aircraft was not used because of the difficulty of getting landing and transit permits from various governments on short notice. Kan later considered using the aircraft for a trip to Germany to watch the Japanese team play in the finals of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, but advisors dissuaded him from doing so due to the high cost and possibility of public outcry in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.

Operation

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (left) arriving in the United States on Japanese Air Force One.

The aircraft are painted with red and gold stripes along the fuselage and red sun insignia on the tail and wings.

Although the aircraft were initially operated by the Prime Minister's Office as civil aircraft, they were transferred to Japan Defense Agency control in April 1992 and re-registered as defense aircraft. They are currently operated by the Special Airlift Group, 701st Squadron (特別航空輸送隊 第701飛行隊, Tokubetsu Kōkū Yusō-tai Dai-nana-hyaku-ichi Hikō-tai) of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, and are based at Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido.

The aircraft contains dedicated offices for use by the Prime Minister (in the front-most section of the lower level) and Chief Cabinet Secretary, which may be repurposed for use by the Imperial family or other VIPs. The aircraft also contains a conference room and a seating area for reporters, both of which may be used as passenger seating on evacuation missions. The upper deck is used for communications and crew rest.

Each aircraft operates with a standard crew complement of 17 to 19 personnel, consisting of two to four pilots, three communications operators and twelve flight attendants.

For shorter domestic VIP flights, the government also uses Eurocopter Super Puma helicopters and Gulfstream IV business jets.

Unlike the American Air Force One, the Japanese government aircraft may only be used for government business, and cannot be used for personal travel by the Imperial family or the Prime Minister.

Support issues

Japan Airlines provides maintenance, ground handling and other technical support for the aircraft, as well as training for the flight crews (who are JASDF personnel). JAL has continued to provide these services despite the retirement of its own fleet of 747-400s in 2011, which has increased the marginal cost of supporting the government aircraft. The Ministry of Defense has concluded that this situation is unsustainable in the long term, and that the government should either adopt a new aircraft, or abandon the operation entirely and return to the use of chartered civilian aircraft. The Ministry views other alternatives, such as contracting with a foreign airline or setting up 747 maintenance infrastructure within the JASDF, as too expensive and logistically troublesome.

See also

• Air transports of heads of state and government