Finding a Solution to Japan’s 2024 Logistics Problem: JAL’s Network for Air Freight

August 28, 2025

The 2024 logistics problem refers to the difficulties faced by the logistics industry as a result of the upper limits that have been placed on truck driver working hours by the “Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures and Stabilization of Employment of Employees and Enrichment of Their Working Lives, Etc.” (Work Style Reform Act).

Japan faces a plethora of workforce challenges, including a shrinking working population due to its low birthrate and aging demographics, the widespread prevalence of long working hours, remuneration disparities between regular and non-regular employees, and low take-up of paid holiday entitlements. The government has responded to this by pursuing “working style reform,” through which it seeks to deliver work-life balance (working and living practices that enable people to live fulfilling working and private lives) and to ensure that everyone can choose ways of working that suit their individual circumstances.

This has included measures introduced in the Work Style Reform Act that have progressively come into force since April 2019. In the case of the logistics industry, a five-year grace period was granted. The 2024 logistics problem got its name from the fact that this grace period ended in March 2024.

Truck drivers are essential to land transportation in the logistics industry and elsewhere. However, as their working hours tend to be very long compared to other industries, the issue has been recognized as a problem for wider society because of concerns that the restrictions have the potential to degrade logistics capabilities, thereby impeding the distribution of goods.

JAL is keeping pace with these moves and is currently engaged in a wide range of measures that relate to domestic air freight. Mayu Kawaguchi, who handles the sale of cargo space in the Hokkaido region, and Atsushi Teshima, who deals with customer service for domestic freight at Haneda Airport, explain what this work involves.

Labor shortages, long working hours, less frequent deliveries, and so on were issues for trucking even before 2024, and there have been cases in the past where shippers have looked at using air freight. Unfortunately, this did not result in many sales as, back then, air freight tended to be seen as an expensive option. While the cost of trucking appears to be increasing slightly, it remained cheap compared to the base rates for air freight.

Seeing the 2024 problem as a turning point in the logistics industry, we were given the go-ahead to cut the cost of transporting fresh fish, mainly iwashi (pilchards), bringing it down to a rate close to delivery by truck. This led to a doubling in our sales. In addition to iwashi, we also had expressions of interest in the shipment of sanma (Pacific saury) and since then we have been transporting different species of fish depending on the season. A major advantage for us is that, by using air freight, we can deliver fresh fish from Hokkaido directly to the Kanto or Kansai regions.

When transporting fresh fish, measures are also needed to maintain its quality. When air-freighting within Japan, cargo is loaded into the under-floor hold of a passenger aircraft. The fish is packed in styrofoam to keep it fresh and, depending on the season, water ice or dry ice is used to keep it chilled. To ensure that goods are carried safely, we also use cases (called waterproof pans) to prevent water from leaking.

Once the fish or other fresh produce arrives at the destination airport, it is sorted by customer and then loaded into trucks for delivery to markets or supermarkets. Fresh fish is commonly frozen for transportation by truck because of the time it takes to deliver over long distances. With air freight, on the other hand, the ability to deliver quickly over long distances means that freezing is not typically used. As freezing can degrade the taste of the fish, this is another way in which air freighting adds considerable value.” (Kawaguchi)

“In a new initiative aimed at addressing the 2024 logistics problem, an X-ray inspection system for cargo use was installed at Haneda Airport and we were commissioned to handle everything from security inspection through to loading onto pallets or containers. This frees customers from having to handle security inspection and the loading of goods into special containers, enabling us to provide a one-stop service whereby, once customers hand over their goods, they can leave it to us to get them to the destination.

In addition to the high cost to shippers or freight forwarders of installing their own inspection equipment, the difficulty they face in obtaining staff is another factor behind the introduction of this service. The X-ray inspection system is located in the security restricted area (SRA) or an area adjacent to the SRA [KM1] [AT2] [AT3] [KM4] and this requires that the staff who check the X-ray images must hold a Class 1 industry qualification for airport security. Moreover, obtaining this qualification is just the beginning as ongoing training is also needed. As airports are a 24-hour/365-day operation, a number of such staff need to be recruited and the associated training programs must also be in place.

You also need to consider air freight agents who want consignments that are put together by night to be delivered the following morning. This means that the employees who deal with cargo need to be on-station at the airport late into the night and in the early hours of the morning. As these staff are required 365 days a year, the falling working population means that it can be very hard to fill these roles even when higher hourly rates are offered. These difficulties can be overcome at a stroke by having us take on every step from security inspection to loading and delivery. All shippers need to do is hand their cargo over to JAL. Not only does this reduce their capital investment and training needs, it can also shorten delivery times and make the work more efficient.

The current inflationary environment is raising labor and fuel costs, gradually increasing the cost of trucking. Meanwhile, the idea that trucking is much cheaper than air freight is also gradually being swept away. As all domestic air freight handled by JALCARGO uses passenger aircraft, we are able to offer competitive pricing on certain flights and time periods by factoring in the income we receive from both passengers and freight, and to do so without compromising our percentage of on-time departures.

Routes where a lot of effort is currently going in include those from Tokyo to places like Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. We can get goods to destinations like these more quickly than trucking, even when consignments are put together at night and carried the next morning. We believe that our efforts can also contribute to working style reform, including by using a modal shift to air freight to overcome the problem of long working hours that besets long-distance trucking.” (Teshima)

The logistics industry will likely find it increasingly difficult to maintain its workforce going forward. Nevertheless, as it is not possible to replace all trucking with air freight, what will be needed is a “modal mix,” a step forward in thinking beyond modal shift in which different modes of transportation operate in harmony. A policy document on new measures for achieving a modal shift that was issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism at the end of October 2024 included recommendations for air freight. These were the use of otherwise unused space on existing scheduled flights and the installation of X-ray inspection systems for cargo at airports. This latter measure is addressed by the one-stop service offered by JAL that involves the installation of X-ray inspection systems.” (Hayata)

“Demand for domestic air freight has only returned to about 75 to 80% of pre-COVID-19 levels. The reason for this is that, with many passenger aircraft not flying during the pandemic, the freight these flights would have carried instead went by truck, a practice that has continued.

Prompted by the 2024 problem, this has led us to give thought to how air freight can help overcome societal challenges in regions to which goods cannot be delivered due to a lack of transportation capacity. Given the anticipated fall in the number of truck drivers and the changes in their working practices, we want to get together with air freight agents and various other partners to think about how we can reduce the disparities in economic rationale relative to air freight.

There are instances in which carrying goods by truck costs more than shipment by air. Examples include round trips when the truck sets out less than half full and returns entirely empty. It could be that there will be particular demand for air freight in regional locations where putting a full consignment together is difficult.” (Hayata)

We have also received many inquiries over recent years about low-temperature cold-chain transportation that have been prompted by heat waves. While the short delivery times of air freight are an advantage, it is also necessary to deal with the temperature changes that occur around the time of loading onto the aircraft. To this end, we have introduced simple, high-performance cold-storage containers. These are conventional containers that have been augmented with thermal insulation and that are also packed with material that retains the cold to keep them chilled. They complement the cold-storage containers packed with dry ice that have been used in the past.

In other words, air freight offers huge advantages when you want to get local produce to market while it is still fresh. I hope that we can continue to contribute to the revitalization of regional economies by taking active steps to expand sales channels and offer added value so that we can deliver specialities from all over Japan in fresh condition.

On the other hand, as domestic freight is carried on passenger flights, the scheduling of containers and route planning will need to change in response to changing trends in passenger demand. In the future, I believe we will need to use large containers to effectively meet the demand out of the hub airports of Naha, Fukuoka, Itami, and New Chitose while also offering the flexibility of using small-to-medium-sized containers at other locations.” (Hayata)

“As security inspection is a requirement for air freight but not for trucking, the associated equipment costs will likely pose a barrier to the shift from land to air transportation. To lower this barrier, I hope that we will be able to offer our one-stop service at other airports, having already launched it at Haneda. This service handles all steps from security inspection to loading and transportation.

Leaving inspection and all the other such tasks up to us so that the customer need do no more than drop off their goods will make it easier for all air freight agents to take advantage of shipment by air. The shift from trucking to air freight is still a work in progress. I hope that, by establishing practices that will further leverage the strength that JAL derives from its network, we will be able to continue using air freight to support logistics.” (Hayata)