JAL cuts additional flights to Hawai'i
By Kelly Yamanouchi
Advertiser Staff Writer
In another sign of the free fall in Japanese tourism, Japan Airlines is again reducing flights from Tokyo to Hawai'i as part of broad cutbacks caused by the war in Iraq and the spread of the respiratory illness known as SARS.
The flight cuts mean that the state's average daily Japanese visitor arrival count of 2,629, down significantly from pre-Sept. 11 days, could be reduced by another 15 percent, assuming all seats on the flights that were cut would have been full. Since March, the average number of Japanese visitors arriving each day is down by 1,200.
Japan Airlines plans to cut Tokyo-Honolulu flights from 14 to seven per week from May 7 to May 31. About 400 fewer seats will be available to bring visitors into Honolulu each day as a result. Beginning June 1 and running to July 14, the schedule would return to 14 flights per week.
The airlines operates about 22 percent of the flights from Tokyo to Honolulu.
The latest round of schedule changes also includes rerouting Tokyo-Kona flights. Instead of flying Tokyo-Kona-Honolulu-Tokyo, the schedule will be Tokyo-Honolulu-Kona-Honolulu-Tokyo for May 7 to May 31.
Hawai'i tourism executives said they were troubled by the latest reductions.
"I fully understand what they're doing right now during the heat of the war," said Keith Vieira, senior vice president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Hawai'i. "My concern is that if this ends in the month of April, how long will it take them to gear up those flights? They'll need to help create the demand."
Vieira said he was also concerned that flight cuts are a "self-fulfilling prophecy — you reduce flights, you have less people on them. You have less people on them, you reduce flights. Only thing that can happen is you will have less visitors."
Japan Airlines' latest announcement marked the third time in the past month that it has reduced flights to Hawai'i.
The carrier said the schedule changes "reflect the reduced passenger demand following the Iraq war and the outbreak of SARS in certain regions in Asia."
Both the war and the severe acute respiratory syndrome have depressed air travel nationally and internationally, but the two developments have hit the Japanese tourism market particularly hard.
"Between SARS and war, there's all kinds of stuff going on, particularly in the Asian market," said Rex Johnson, executive director of the Hawai'i Tourism Authority.
Duty-free retailer DFS Group, which is being sued by the state for $49 million in back rent and penalties, has seen business suffer with the drop in Japanese visitors.
"It's certainly going to have a deep impact on our business," said DFS Group Vice President Sharon Weiner. "But hopefully it'll just be temporary."
Weiner said she is counting on Japanese travel rebounding after the war. But "lately you've seen a trend of staying home in Japan," she said.
Japan Airlines last month announced it was cutting Tokyo-Honolulu flights for April to 14 flights per week from a planned 21 per week. The carrier also cut Osaka-Honolulu flights to seven per week from 14. It will continue to operate seven flights per week to and from Osaka through July 14.
The carrier also plans to operate fewer flights from Japan to Los Angeles, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Guam and Seoul.
Some routes are being suspended entirely through April or May, including flights to Zurich, Switzerland; Hong Kong; Denpasar and Jakarta, Indonesia; and Taipei, Taiwan.
Because of recommendations from the Japanese government and the World Health Organization to curtail travel to Asia during the SARS outbreak, "tour operators have suspended operations to Hong Kong and southern China, adding to the fall in passenger bookings," according to the carrier.
Reach Kelly Yamanouchi at kyamanouchi@honoluluadvertiser.com. or 535-2470
