JAL may swell flights on Australian route
After years of retreat, JAL has been in talks with Brisbane Airport about resuming direct services from Tokyo's Narita Airport as early as November. Resumption of a second direct route by JAL would be a boost to the local tourism industry.
The number of Japanese visitors did rise by 5 per cent to almost 352,000 for the year to November. But the figure is still well down on 1997 when Japanese visitors - then Australia's largest inbound market - peaked at 800,000.
Brisbane Airport confirmed it was in discussions with JAL about a resumption of services, but said "no firm date had been mentioned for their return".
"The demand is certainly there and there is a groundswell of support from the Queensland government and business community for the return of a full-service carrier between Brisbane and Japan," the airport said.
A spokeswoman for JAL said the airline had not made any decision about restarting the Brisbane-Tokyo route. "It is not something we would commit to saying at this point in time," she said.
"Without specifying Brisbane, we do keep a lookout for markets that we don't fly to and if it makes sense for us to consider, we would definitely explore it."
JAL stopped flying between Brisbane and Tokyo in September 2010 as part of substantial cuts to its international network after it entered bankruptcy protection.
It relisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange last year and has since embarked on a network expansion, although it has been hamstrung recently by the grounding of its fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
JAL still has daily services between Sydney and Tokyo.
Qantas recently warned that Japanese tourism would remain stagnant or anaemic due to their changing travel tastes and a lack of investment in attractions.
In 2011, Qantas stopped direct Perth-Tokyo flights, and temporarily replaced Boeing 747 jumbos with smaller Airbus A330s. Jetstar flies the bulk of the Qantas Group's services to Japan.
Regulators recently gave approval to JAL and Jetstar to code-share on the Japan route until 2017.
Frequently Asked Questions about this Article…
JAL has been in talks with Brisbane Airport about resuming direct services from Tokyo's Narita Airport and the airline has suggested it could consider a return as early as November, but the carrier has not made any firm decision or committed to a date.
The article notes the in‑bound tourist market from Japan is recovering and Brisbane Airport says demand exists, so a resumption of a second direct JAL route would be a boost to the local tourism industry.
Japanese visitor numbers rose about 5% to almost 352,000 for the year to November, but that is still well below the 1997 peak of around 800,000 visitors.
Yes — JAL still operates daily services between Sydney and Tokyo, even though it stopped the Brisbane–Tokyo service in September 2010.
According to the article, JAL stopped some routes after entering bankruptcy protection (including Brisbane–Tokyo in 2010), relisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange last year and has embarked on network expansion, but that effort has been hampered recently by the grounding of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.
Brisbane Airport confirmed it was in discussions with JAL but said no firm date had been mentioned for a return. The airport added there is a groundswell of support from the Queensland government and business community for the return of a full‑service carrier between Brisbane and Japan.
The article says Qantas warned Japanese tourism might remain stagnant due to changing travel tastes and lack of investment in attractions. Qantas stopped direct Perth–Tokyo flights in 2011 and temporarily used smaller Airbus A330s instead of Boeing 747s, while Jetstar operates the bulk of the Qantas Group's services to Japan.
Yes — regulators recently approved JAL and Jetstar to code‑share on the Japan route until 2017, according to the article.
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