JAL will cut back flights to Hawai'i

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Japan Airlines Co. is cutting one of its four daily flights from Tokyo to Honolulu as demand from Japanese tourists continues to sag.

Asia's largest carrier said yesterday that it will cut the number of its flights to the Islands from 75 to 68 each week from Oct. 1 through March 31.

Demand for travel to Hawai'i in May "seemed to be picking up faster than we had earlier thought. However, momentum has not been maintained," said Japan Airlines spokesman Geoff Tudor.

Japan Airlines 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.

Japanese arrivals to the Islands are off 10 to 15 percent from a year ago.

"Hawai'i is kind of soft, but demand from Japan to Korea and especially to China has really grown, so they're a destination that is surging," said Gilbert Kimura, sales director for Japan Airlines in Honolulu.

The cut is another signal of trouble for the state's tourism industry, still struggling to get back to where it was before Sept. 11.

Japan's own economic woes and continuing fears of terrorism are prompting the country's consumers and businesses to put off trips abroad or to travel to less-expensive Asian destinations.

Japan Airlines has 11 flights daily between Hawai'i and Japan.

All Nippon Airways, another major carrier serving the market, said yesterday that it does not have plans to cut either of its two daily flights from Japan to Hawai'i.

Even with the cuts, there are more than 130 Honolulu-Japan flights each week on JAL, ANA and other carriers, according to state officials.

Advertiser staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi and the Bloomberg News Service contributed to this report.