Kobe Airport

Peach reports strong first month of LCC operations, but at expense of declining ANA traffic

Peach Aviation, the first of a new wave of low-cost carriers to enter Japan, has reported a solid first month of operations, carrying in Mar-2012 approximately 67,000 passengers across three routes with a load factor of 83%, above initial projections.

This traffic, however, has come at the expense of parent company All Nippon Airways (ANA), which saw year-on-year traffic and load factor declines above the system average. The negative story at the mainline operation is the same when measured against traffic in Mar-2010. While Peach is young and ANA's other LCC, AirAsia Japan, is yet to launch, the presence of traffic cannibalisation is evident. While this is not unexpected and ANA has planned for it, the level of cannibalisation appears to be above ANA's projections. It is a sign of the changing North Asia market, and a worry for ANA, which holds by far the largest share of domestic Japanese capacity – and plans domestic growth in coming years.

Japan crisis has major impact on regional travel and tourism flows

The events in Japan have had a “major impact on regional travel and tourism flows”, Association of Asia Pacific Aviation (AAPA) Director General, Andrew Herdman has said. He noted that Japan represents 6.5% of worldwide scheduled air traffic and accounts for a fifth of traffic within the Asia Pacific region.

Japan Airlines - new domestic airports to boost JAL’s domestic network

TOKYO (Japan Airlines) - Japan Airlines’ domestic network will be boosted in February and March with the opening of two new airports in Japan, Kobe Airport in the Kansai region near Osaka, and Kitakyushu Airport, in northeast Kyushu, southernmost of the four main islands of Japan.