TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Brazil’s TAM Airlines (JJ) opened its Tokyo office on April 27. Takahide Onoda of the airline’s General Sales Agent (GSA) for Japan has taken up the position as Area Representative Japan under the supervision of Giuliano Ponzio, Account Manager of Eastern Europe and Asia at TAM Airlines. In Asia, it has general sales agents (GSA) in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand. Tokyo is the first branch staffed by TAM’s own employee. The airline is set to join Star Alliance on May 13. TAM Tokyo aims to boost sales in the Japan market, focusing on the start of code-sharing deal with All Nippon Airways (ANA).

Speaking at a reception held on April 27, Paulo Cezar Castello Branco, TAM Vice-President Commercial & Planning, said, “Asia is the world’s most commercially important region for the airline industry.” “We consider Japan as the best-chosen market to compete in the air transport business.” He further explained that, in terms of BSP (bank settlement plan) billings, passenger traffic between Asia and South America creates a turnover of as much as 400 million US dollars (approximately 37.53 billion yen). By opening its own branch in Tokyo, Branco said, TAM Airlines endeavors to further boost traffic demand.

Also, Ponzio told Travel Vision that since the Bank Settlement Plan (BSP) started in Japan also for Brazilian domestic tickets this past January, its BSP billings amount to a half million US dollars (about 47 million yen) in three months alone, adding that it is an extremely promising start for TAM Airlines. Commenting on the code-sharing with ANA, he said that he is hopeful to realize it by the end of September. Capitalizing on the code-sharing, the airline aims to focus on three traffic segments between Japan and South America, which are business travel, leisure travel and South American expats. The operating income target set for the first year is 2.5 million US dollars (approximately 235 million yen). TAM Airlines strives to increase its yearly operating income by 20 percent year-by-year, concluded Ponzio.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

Austrian Airlines started a daily service from Narita to Vienna from April 15, operating an additional flight on Thursday with a code-sharing with All Nippon Airways. Aircraft to be put into service is Boeing B777-200. Speaking at a reception held on the occasion of its daily operation, Ayako Ito, the airline’s Supervisor, Advertising & Marketing, said that the additional frequency has brought Austrian Airlines a 16 percent weekly capacity increase compared to the last winter schedule, adding that the airline has set its sales priority at using up the increased seat capacity. The inaugural flight on April 15 departed Narita for Vienna with a nearly full-passenger load. Major travel agencies including JTB, Kinki Nippon Tourist and HIS have meanwhile started selling package tours taking advantage of the increased capacity.

The airline’s Narita/Vienna route provides same day connections to 63 cities in Europe and the Middle East. Christina Debbah, Vice President Global & Distribution at Austrian Airlines mentioned that the airline operates many connecting flights in Central Europe and elsewhere, extolling its excellent connectivity. The airline flies also to 38 cities which are not directly served from Japan. With less than two-hour flying time from Vienna, Austrian Airlines enjoys a growing demand for transit traffic to those cities. Commenting on the daily flight operation from Narita, Ito said that the customers are now able to book the airline’s Narita/Vienna flight without referring to the day of the week in the calendar. With the enhanced passenger convenience, Austrian Airlines expects even further expansion of travel demand including transit traffic, added Ito.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

Japan Airlines (JAL) and Dubai-based Emirates Airline (EK) reached an agreement to expand their code share partnership between Japan and Dubai. JAL will start placing its “JL” flight indicator on EK-operated flights between Tokyo (Narita) and Dubai from March 28, 2010, when EK will launch the new direct service to Narita, flying five times a week.

Both airlines have been offering code share services on the Osaka (Kansai) = Dubai route since 2002. By further strengthening their partnership through the new connection between Tokyo and Dubai, both airlines can build a more extensive network to increase customer convenience and better facilitate business and tourist travel to the Middle East from Japan.

In addition to the code share flights, JAL and EK also linked their frequent flyer programs (FFP) in October 2002, enabling members of the JAL Mileage Bank (JMB) and Emirates’ Skywards FFP to earn miles on each other’s flights.

Reservations and ticket purchase for the new code share service will commence on February 25.

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