‹ Economic Slowdown Affecting Travel Demand  •  Worst is yet to Come for Aviation Industry ›

JAL, ANA to Cut Flights Due to Rising Fuel Prices

September 4, 2008 in Airlines, Japan by Lynnette | No comments

Japan Airlines (JAL) and Air Nippon Airways (ANA), two of Japan’s largest airlines, plan to trim down their flight services in order to bring down operating costs as a consequence of rising fuel prices. JAL will close down 12 domestic and five international routes, at the same time, reduce frequencies on five other routes. ANA is expected to cut down services on 10 routes, which includes two international routes. The flight cuts are expected to generate savings of up to JPY 13 billion for JAL and about JPY 3 billion for ANA, annually.

The Kansai-Heathrow flight is one of the international flights to be cut by Japan Airlines by March 2009. Weak demand from business travelers has resulted in low profitability of the service. Closure of this route will leave no long-distance flights by Japanese air carriers at the Kansai International Airport since ANA had already terminated its flight services between Kansai and European destinations in November 2000. The daily Tokyo service from Heathrow will be the only remaining service of the carrier between London and Japan after March 29.

Source: Market Watch at www.marketwatch.com

You must be logged in to post a comment.