After photographing this JAL Boeing 777 at Narita the other day, I looked up its registration and discovered it has quite a story to tell—a glorious history!

It turns out this aircraft was the first test plane for the Boeing 777-300ER, registered at the time as N5017V, with its maiden flight on February 24, 2003.

JAL was actually the first airline to decide on introducing the Boeing 777-300ER. As a result, Boeing used this aircraft and another, N5016R (now JAL’s JA731J), to fly around the world, completing numerous test flights. However, quite regrettably, the first 777-300ER to be delivered (April 29, 2004) and enter commercial operation went to Air France. You can see Boeing’s official press release here. After completing various tests, N5017V was finally delivered to JAL in July 2004. This history is documented in the Japanese version of Wikipedia.

Back in the N5017V era, its livery was very special, featuring a world map painted on the forward fuselage. Pretty cool, isn’t it? <a href=https://www.airliners.net/photo/Boeing/Boeing-777-346-ER/0510032/L/&sid=69c41f45f4c39e35c446c3cdad1e6fd4>

After N5017V was delivered to JAL, its registration was changed to JA732J. Here is a close-up of the tail.

The current JA732J is also quite special, sporting a special livery for the One World alliance. You can also see that a satellite communication antenna dome has been added to the upper fuselage—it is keeping up with the times!

The End