Japan Airlines launching additional flights to Hawaii, Australia

Japan Airlines wants to move ahead putting its troubled financial past behind it. The airline has successfully reorganized its bankruptcy woes and has for the first time since 2010 announced the launch of new international routes. Media reports said that Japan Airlines would be launching additional flights services to Hawaii and Australia in September this year.

Japan’s national carrier is currently operating flights to Sydney from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport. This is in addition to several codeshare flights between Australia and Japan. The airline has now said that it plans to begin flights to another key Australian city Melbourne this September.

Japan Airlines has also indicated that it would be launching a new international route to Hawaii. The airline will introduce new flights between Tokyo Narita and Kona. Presently, the airline is the biggest player by catering to nearly 30 percent of air traffic between Honolulu and Japan.

However, Japan Airlines will also have to face tough challenges on its Hawaiian route. The airline’s Japanese rival All Nippon Airways has said it plans to launch superjumbo Airbus A380 aircraft to serve Honolulu route effective from spring 2019. The competition is likely to intensify, but Japan Airlines is optimistic and hoping that the market share would be maintain on the Kona route.

Meanwhile, Japan Airlines has said that it is planning to completely stop flights or reduce frequencies on unprofitable routes, particularly those in Europe. The airline is presently operating flights to Paris from both Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The airline has however indicated that it would stop serving Paris from Narita airport.

The airline is also seeing South Korea as a tough market, with major threat now coming from South Korean LCCs. The number of flights to Japan is likely to increase by nearly 20 percent during the peak summer season in comparison to last year. However, the dampener for the airline would be reduction or cancellation of its flights on Narita-Seoul route with the likely fall in fares because of the challenges posed by South Korean budget carriers.