Japan Travel Trade Weekly News
Keeping you abreast of what's going on in the
Japanese travel and tourism industries.
News consolidated by Travel Vision, Inc. updated every week.
JAL Group Increases Charter Flights from Haneda by 280% to 800 in
FY2008 with Substantial Increase on Hong Kong Route
Early-May 2008
The JAL Group plans to operate approximately 800 (400
round-trips) charter flights from/ to Haneda during FY2008, thereby
substantially exceeding the 280 charter flights operated during the
previous fiscal year. The aggregated number of planned charter
flights, including departures from regional airports, is expected to
be approximately 1200 flights (600round-trips), 66.6% of which will
be served from Tokyo Haneda, representing more than half of the total
number of charter flights for FY2008.
Mainly attributed to the substantial increase will be, as JAL
comments, the Haneda/ Hong Kong charter flights starting from July 1
this summer. The airline had originally planned to operate some 280
ad-hoc charter flights from Haneda. Then, an additional charter
flight plan has come up to include about 400 flights with the
destination Hong Kong, 2 weekly flights to Incheon, Seoul from April
15, a total of 8 flights to Ulaanbaatar during the months of July and
August, 10 flights to Palau in October and 14 flights to Honolulu in
August, thus substantially increasing the number of charter flights.
In contrast, the number of charters departing from other than Haneda
will be reduced by 250 flights to approximately 400 compared to the
previous fiscal year.
In addition to package tour sales, JAL also launched both normal
and discounted fares for individual customers effective from April
25. The airline currently serves 2 daily flights between Tokyo Narita
and Hong Kong and is of the opinion that "the existing ANA's Haneda/
Hong Kong route has not brought any negative impact on part of JAL
with no change to the traffic demand. JAL's Narita/ Hong Kong flight
has different schedule from its Haneda/ Hong Kong flight, thus
expects to attract a different type of market demand." The airline is
scheduled to operate the new route with the following timing.
*JAL Charter Flight Schedule Haneda/ Hong Kong
dep. HND 20.30 arr. HKG 00.05
dep. HKG 01.20 arr. HND 06.30
Aircraft: Boeing B767-300ER (237 seats)
ANA Posts A Record Net Profit for FY2007
Early-May 2008
ANA Group reported consolidated financial performance for FY2007
(April 1, 2007 - March 31, 2008) as follows:
Revenue: 1,487.8 billion yen (-0.1% over FY2006)
Operating profit: 84.3 billion yen (-8.5)
Recurring profit: 56.5 billion yen (-9.7)
Net profit: 64.1 billion yen (+96.4)
Consolidated revenue for the fiscal year remained virtually at
the same level as FY2006 thanks to a strong performance by airlines
within the Group. Operating profit decreased by 8.5% as a result of
the accelerated depreciation of aircraft in order to renew its fleet.
However, the sale of hotel assets in the first half of the fiscal
year contributed significantly in posting a record net profit with a
96% year-over-year increase.
Revenue by Air Transport segment increased a 4.2% to 1,301.6
billionyen, however, operating profit decreased a 2.2% to 77.9
billion yen of which domestic and international shares were
approximately 50 billion yen and 25 billion yen respectively. Despite
ever-increasing competition among domestic carriers and against
railways, ANA domestic operations performed well to improve revenues
through flexible discount fares, revenue management and sales
promotions.
International operations, thanks to strong demand for business
travel and effective discount policy on PEX fares including "Biz-Wari
Web" fares, continued strong in the midst of escalating fuel
surcharges. Comparison by routes show China routes reflect difficult
circumstances in connection with the dispute over Chinese-made frozen
Gyoza dumplings that sickened a number of people in Japan and the
Tibet issue. On the other hand, Europe, North America and Asia in
general performed well, which resulted in an increase of 11.9% in
revenue over the previous year.
New routes to Asian cities including Shanghai inaugurated from
Tokyo's Haneda Airport have recorded load factors in 80 percent range
thereby clearly capturing demands from Yokohama and western part of
Tokyo.
With regard to escalating fuel prices, ANA, at the April 30 press
meeting, revealed that the total fuel bill for FY2006 was 189.2
billion yen, which was increased by 30.6 billion yen to 219.8 billion
yen in FY2007. A total of 29 billion yen was recovered in the form of
fuel surcharges in FY2007. A fuel bill of 256.6 billion yen is
forecasted for FY2008, an increase of 35 billion yen of which 30
billion yen will be passed on to fuel surcharges. New level of
surcharge after July 2008 will be announced after the Golden Week
holidays.
As to the outlook for FY2008, despite uncertainty in economic
environment, ANA Group forecasts an increase in revenue by
introducing market-friendly products, strengthening of
competitiveness through attractive pricing strategy aimed to capture
individual passenger demand. It will improve its network at Haneda
Airport to spur travel demand and will continue to reinforce its
revenue base. It forecasts a revenue of 1.51 trillion yen, operating
income of 80 billion yen, recurring income of 52 billion yen and net
income of 27 billion yen.
*Air Transport Segment
Domestic (Consolidated)
Revenue (billion yen): 739.5 (+1.9% over FY2006)
No of Passengers (000): 45,557 (-2.0)
Available Seat Kilometers (million km): 62,651 (+0.4)
Revenue Seat Kilometers (million km): 39,928 (-1.6)
Load Factor (%) : 63.7
International (Consolidated)*
Revenue (billion yen) : 311.5 (+11.9% over FY2006))
No of Passengers (000): 4,827 (+6.0)
Available Seat Kilometers (million km): 28,285 (+6.3)
Revenue Seat Kilometers (million km): 21,291 (+5.7)
Load Factor (%): 75.3
*Figures include code-share flights operated by United (KIX/ HNL) and
Eva Air.
*Travel Segment
Revenue (Domestic Package Tours in billion yen): 150.3 (+6.9%)
Revenue (International Package Tours in billion yen): 43.9 (-3.7%)
Transaero Airlines Launches Narita/ St. Petersburg Service,
Anticipating to Expand International Exchange
Early-May 2008
Transaero Airlines (UN) started two weekly flights on April 25
between Tokyo Narita and St. Petersburg. Alexander Pleshakov, the
airline's chairman who visited Japan by its inaugural flight said,
"We are most honored to be able to fly to and from Narita Airport in
spite of many airlines on a long aiting list." "With our 17-year
safety record since the foundation of our company and on-going
improvement of our customer service, we shall strive for full loads
in the hope of paving the way for daily flight operation in the
foreseeable future," the chairman said.
During the inaugural flight ceremony, Valentina Matvienko,
Governor of St. Petersburg and Mikhail Galuzin, Russian Minister to
Japan welcomed the fact that "the new service by Transaero Airlines
will further enhance the exchange of tourism and business between
Japan and Russia, and in particular, between Japan and St.
Petersburg. They are committed that each of them would, in his own
capacity, support the airline to realize a daily flight operation.
Chairman Pleshakov anticipates that the Japan market will produce
75% of the total passenger load. The airline estimates the total
number of passengers to fluctuate between 12,000 and 13,000 during
2008 and aims to increase it to 20,000 in 2009.
The Chairman also predicts that business traffic share will be
"12% to 15%" of the total passengers boarding in Japan and hopes that
the business traffic demand will rise to "20% in 2009". St.
Petersburg has attracted more than 40 companies from Japan including
a Nissan Motor's auto assembly plant currently under construction.
Thus, the economic ties between the two countries enjoy continuous
progress.
In terms of touristic demand, out of the total Japanese visitors
to St. Petersburg in 2007, approximately 30,000 traveled via Moscow
and roughly 125,000 were flown in by charter flights. The new
scheduled service from Tokyo Narita should give a boost to the number
of visitor arrivals from Japan, said the airline. The airline's
direct flight from Narita shortens a flight time by about 3 hours
compared to an indirect flight via Moscow.
Transaero Airlines also aims to generate transit traffic to
Europe beyond St. Petersburg. As far as a tie-up with a Japanese
airline is concerned, the airline revealed, "The present tie-up with
Japan Airlines for cargo flights may possibly be extended to
passenger flights as well." Knowing that "Japanese customers are
extremely demanding when it comes to service aspects, we intend to
assign Japanese flight attendants, serve Japanese meals and provide
major Japanese newspapers onboard."
Meanwhile, Transaero has made a contract with Qantas Airways to offer
its business class passengers access to a Qantas airport lounge at
Narita.
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