JAL plans Hawai'i cutback
| • | Japan travel woes hurting Hawai'i's wedding business |
By David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writer
Japan Airlines Co. has tentatively decided to cut one of its four daily flights between Honolulu and Tokyo as demand from Japanese tourists continues to sag.
Advertiser library photo • March 18, 2002
One less jumbo jet arriving daily from Tokyo is another signal of trouble for the state's tourism industry, still struggling to get back to where it was before Sept. 11.
Japan Airlines may cut one of its four daily flights to Honolulu from the Haneda Airport in Tokyo, above, as fewer Japanese tourists book trips to Hawai'i.
Japanese arrivals to the Islands last week were 10 percent to 15 percent less than a year ago.
"Whenever demand increases, we will put on extra flights," said Gilbert Kimura, sales manager for Japan Airlines in Honolulu.
Kimura said the airline is considering cutting one daily flight starting in October, but added that the decision is not official yet.
More Japanese are deciding to stay home or travel to less expensive Asian destinations as the country continues to labor under a stagnant economy and fears of terrorism after Sept. 11.
Japan Airlines, Asia's No. 1 carrier, said passengers flying to Hawai'i and the Mainland were down by more than 18 percent in the peak summer travel season of July 20 to Aug. 18.
Traffic on all international routes fell 6.2 percent during that period to 654,938.
But domestic passenger numbers rose 2 percent to 2.28 million, Japan Airlines said.
All Nippon Airways Co., the region's No. 2 carrier, said international passenger numbers fell 3.4 percent to 338,714 for the peak period. But in ANA's case, domestic passengers also fell, dropping 1.2 percent to 4.27 million.
The number of Japanese visitors to Hawai'i has been slowly declining since 1997, when Japanese arrivals peaked at 2.2 million. Last year, only 1.5 million Japanese visited the state.
Kimura cautioned against reading too much into the cutting of one flight.
"Hawai'i has always been a lot of peaks and valleys," he said.
The airline may return to four daily Tokyo-Honolulu flights next spring and will certainly be adding flights in the peak year-end travel season, he said.
Japan Airlines has a total of 11 flights daily between Hawai'i and Japan, including flights to Honolulu from cities outside Tokyo and one flight from Tokyo to Kona.
"At year-end, it can go up to 18 or 19 flights," Kimura said.
The Associated Press and Bloomberg News Service contributed to this report.
