The battle for the domestic Japanese market has intensified with Jetstar Japan revealing it will take to the skies “ahead of schedule” in an apparent effort to steal a march over rival low cost carrier AirAsia Japan.
The start-up carrier, a joint venture between Qantas, Japan Airines and Mitsubishi, confirmed Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Okinawa as launch destinations, to be served by three new A320 aircraft from July 3. That is several months ahead of its original target launch date of late 2012 (Travel Today, December 22).
AirAsia Japan is expected to be operating by August at the latest.
Jetstar Group chief executive Bruce Buchanan stressed the carrier’s existing long haul operation from Australia to Japan made it a “known quantity” in the eyes of Japanese travellers.
“Serving the Japanese customer for the past five years with international services gives us a clear advantage in rolling out a domestic network,” he said. “We’ve built up a lot of trust with Japanese consumers.”
Meanwhile, AirAsia Japan, a joint venture with All Nippon Airways, received an Air Operators Certificate from the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau on February 1, enabling it to operate aircraft to international and domestic destinations from a Tokyo Narita base.
The airline revealed that its anticipated August lunch could be brought forward “subject to aircraft availability”, potentially pipping Jetstar Japan to the post to become the first low cost carrier to fly domestically from the nation’s capital.
The newcomer’s launch is expected to increase AirAsia X’s appeal in the Australian market, according to marketing manager Australia Stuart Myerscough.
Myerscough said the new carrier combined with AirAsia Phillippines would widen the AirAsia network, giving travellers much more flexibility.
“Australian travellers will have more opportunities so they won’t always have to connect back to the central Kuala Lumpur hub,” he said.
