Japan Airlines to set up low-cost carrier, targeting Asian demand

TOKYO: Japan Airlines Co Ltd (JAL) is launching a low-cost carrier offering medium to long-haul flights, aiming to tap growing Asian demand for budget air travel.

The new airline will be based at Narita International Airport and will offer flights to Asia, Europe and the Americas, JAL said in a statement.

The as-yet unnamed airline plans to start flying in the summer of 2020 with two widebody Boeing 787-8 aircraft. JAL will invest 10 billion yen to 20 billion yen (US$91.44mil to US$182.88mil) in the business, with the aim of reaching profitability within three years from the launch, the company said.

Budget flights have been slow to take off in Japan, which is dominated by full-service carriers JAL and ANA Holdings Inc and has a sophisticated high-speed rail network, but with growing numbers of Asia travellers taking to the air the two Japanese airlines are looking to expand their low-cost offerings.

“Full-service airlines typically have high costs, but in Japan this is especially so,” said Will Horton, senior analyst at research consultancy CAPA Centre for Aviation. ”

Japan needs new platforms to capture foreign visitors. They are not like the Japanese who are sticky in wanting to fly a costly Japanese full-service airline.” ANA has said it will launch medium-length international flights, potentially flying as far afield as India, as it integrates its low-cost carrier units under the Peach brand name.

JAL, by contrast, holds only a minority stake in Jetstar Japan, a joint venture with Qantas Airways Ltd’s low-cost brand Jetstar which flies narrow-body aircraft. JAL said it would continue to invest in Jetstar Japan.

The new long-distance carrier is a totally different proposition from Jetstar Japan, which “is purely short-distance”, JAL’s new president Yuji Akasaka told reporters.—