News From Asia 亚洲新闻

Richard Maslen April 14, 2011

SENDAI AIRPORT RE-OPENS TO SCHEDULED TRAFFIC

Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has re-opened Sendai Airport to commercial traffic on April 13. The facility will be remembered around the world for the amazing footage of seawater flowing across its apron following last month’s tsunami, however, it has already re-opened to humanitarian flights and now is being used by commercial passengers once more, providing important access back into the region. All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) have developed a temporary timetable for the reintroduction of flights. ANA will offer a three times daily Boeing 737-800 service from Tokyo Haneda, while JAL will fly daily from Tokyo Haneda and twice daily from Osaka Itami, again using Boeing 737-800 equipment. These flights are preliminary set for the first two weeks after opening and no further details are currently available after the latter date. In a further boost for the airport and the city of Sendai, Skymark Airlines has revealed that it will introduce three new routes from spring 2012, comprising daily links from Kobe and Nagoya Chubu and twice daily services from Sapporo Chitose. These flights are due to begin in March 2012, although the Nagoya link is tentatively scheduled to start in April 2012.

JEJU AIR ADDS INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS FROM JEJU

South Korean low-cost carrier Jeju Air is to introduce flights between Jeju and Osaka Kansai from this summer, its fifth route into Japan. It currently only offers domestic links from its base at Jeju International Airport with services to Busan, Cheongju and Seoul Gimpo, however, from June 22 it will introduce the three times weekly operation to Osaka Kansai. The route is already served by Korean Air, which offers a daily schedule, carrying approximately 54,000 O&D passengers in the past year, each paying an average fare of $318. Jeju Air already offers links to Osaka Kansai from Seoul Gimpo and Incheon, holding a five and eight per cent share of the traffic over the past year, respectively. It also serves Nagoya Chubu from Seoul Gimpo and Kitakyushu from Incheon.

AIRASIA SWITCHES FLIGHTS BETWEEN SUBSIDIARIES

Low-cost carrier AirAsia is to take over responsibility for flights between Kota Kinabalu and Jakarta from its Indonesian division. The flight is currently flown three times weekly by AirAsia Indonesia but from May 7 will be operated by mainline crews. The budget carrier is currently the only airline serving the route, a market of 18,000 O&D passengers during the past year.

XIAMEN AIRLINES TO INTRODUCE FLIGHTS TO MACAU FROM FUZHOU

Xiamen Airlines is to inaugurate a twice weekly service between Fuzhou and Macau from April 16. The flight will operate every Tuesday and Saturday and will be flown using a Boeing 737-700. There are currently no direct links between the two destinations, although Xiamen Airlines does already have a presence in each market. It currently offers direct flights from Fuzhou, the capital and one of the largest cities in the Fujian province of China, to Hangzhou, Kaohsiung, Singapore Changi, Taipei Songshan, Taipei Taoyuan and Xiamen; while links to Macau are also offered from Hangzhou, Jinjiang and Xiamen.

AIR FRANCE BOOSTS GUANGZHOU FLIGHTS

Air France is to introduce a further two weekly flights between Paris CDG and Guangzhou this summer. The carrier will boost its schedules to five flights per week from June 22 to support the growing demand on the route. The airline carried approximately 6,000 O&D passengers between the two cities in the past year, a route dominated by its SkyTeam partner China Southern Airlines (25,000 passengers) which is based at Baiyun International Airport in the Chinese city. Traffic between Europe and China is seeing considerable growth. In 2010, approximately 3.3 million O&D passengers travelled between the two areas, up from 2.8 million in 2009.

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