Shanghai continues to expand on both the business and tourism fronts as the biggest commercial/financial and industrial city in China. Because of the premier location, this hotel expects a large demand from business and leisure travelers alike.

JAL Hotels Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; President: Mamoru Tsutsumi) announced that the company signed a hotel management agreement on November 1 with Shanghai Yuchang Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Changning District, Shanghai, China; General Manager: Shi Jian) to open five-star Hotel Nikko Shanghai in March, 2009.

Hotel Nikko Shanghai, which will be located at the corner of Shanghai Puxi area's main road, Yan An West Road and Zhen Ning Road, will be built as a part of Manpo International Plaza, a newly developed commercial real estate complex. It will be a five-star hotel with 388 guest rooms in a 23-story building above ground and two stories in the basement, which will occupy a total of 47,724 square meters.

The hotel's facilities will include three restaurants, a lobby lounge, a bar, an executive lounge, banquet rooms, meeting rooms, a business center, pool, fitness center, spa and parking. In addition to Hotel Nikko Shanghai, two luxury condominium buildings and a luxury office building will be built in the Manpo International Plaza. It is only a 25-minute-drive from Shanghai Hongqiao Airport.

Japan Airlines opened a round-trip, twice-daily air route including code sharing with China Eastern Airlines between Shanghai Hongqiao and Haneda Tokyo Airport in September 2007.

JAL Hotels was seeking an opportunity to enter the market, which is expected to see further expansion as a result of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. Shanghai Yuchang Real Estate Development Co., Ltd., the owner of the hotel, is a leading real estate developer in Shanghai, which is also handling the development of Manpo International Plaza.

Nikko Hotels International is an international luxury hotel group operated by JAL Hotels Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Japan Airlines, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. In addition to Nikko Hotels International, JAL Hotels also operates Hotel JAL City, a chain of 14 mid-priced hotels for business travelers in Japan. As of November 1, 2007, JAL Hotels Co., Ltd. has 64 hotels with 20,703 rooms worldwide, in Europe, the Middle East, the Americas and throughout Japan and the Asia/Pacific region.

This year, the company opened the 171-room Hotel Nikko Northland Obihiro on April 1st, the 373-room Hotel Nikko Tianjin in Tianjin, China on April 11th, and the 257-room Hotel JAL Fujairah Resort & Spa, a five-star Nikko Hotels International property, in Fujairah, UAE, on May 15th. Future openings include the 478-room Hotel JAL Tower Dubai, also a member of the Nikko Hotels group, in Dubai, UAE, in 2008, and the 300-room Hotel JAL Bahrain Resort & Spa, a Nikko Hotels International property, and the 500-room Hotel Nikko Wuxi in 2009.