is a low-cost airline headquartered in Kozunomori, Narita, Japan. The airline began operations in August 2014, having originally planned to begin operations in autumn 2013. It is a subsidiary of

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, ...

History

Spring Airlines Spring Airlines Co., Ltd. () is a low-cost carrier with its headquarters in the Homeyo Hotel () in Changning District, Shanghai, China. While the company adopted the English name "Spring Airlines", the Chinese name literally means "Spring Au ...

announced in 2011 that it had plans to establish a subsidiary in Japan; it would be the first Chinese airline to do so. Spring was required to find one or more local partners due to Japanese legal restrictions that would limit its investment to a minority stake. When it launched, the airline was 33% owned by

, a Chinese low-cost carrier, with the remainder held by various Japanese investors. The airline is now majority-owned and controlled by

The airline received an

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets, and system in plac ...

on 17 December 2013, having filed in September 2013 with 1.5 billion yen of equity capital, of which Spring Airlines invested 33%. The remainder of the airline's capital was provided by Japanese financial institutions, IT enterprises and trading companies, a