Japan's ZIPAIR proving a bright spot for Japan Airlines

AirJapan schedules mid-1Q24 start

AirJapan (NQ, Tokyo Haneda) will begin revenue operations on February 9, 2024, with flights between Tokyo Narita and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. The airline is a subsidiary of ANA Holdings and will focus on medium-haul international routes.

The statement announcing the flights indicates a 324-passenger all-economy class B787-8 will operate the six days a week service. In addition to flights already offered on the route by ANA, the new low-cost carrier will take on JAL - Japan Airlines, ZIPAIR, Thai Airways International, and Thai AirAsia X on the city pair.

While frequently publicised as a start-up, Air Japan is an existing airline, albeit operating flights for ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) in aircraft painted in ANA's livery. ANA's launch of Air Japan as a standalone brand with its own aircraft is seen as a competitive response to Japan Airlines' low-cost medium-haul subsidiary, ZIPAIR. Air Japan President Hideki Mineguchi said the Bangkok flights will increase to daily in April, and around that time, additional routes will be...

Japan Airlines gears up for fleet renewal, growing cargo ops

Air Japan eyes mid-1Q24 launch date

Air Japan (Tokyo Haneda) has confirmed that it plans to start flying in February 2024. The subsidiary of ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda) sister carrier intends to launch with flights around Southeast Asia using B787 aircraft before expanding to other airports around the continent.

The airline revealed details of its cabin amenities on March 9, 2023, saying that it would leverage ANA Holdings' experience in full service and low-cost carriers to provide a comfortable flight at affordable prices. While the announcement did not reveal specific routes, ANA Holdings President and CEO Koji Shibata has previously said that his new airline will target medium haul destinations such as Singapore Changi and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi that are six or seven hours flying time from Japan. Its shorter haul international routes, such as those to Taipei Taoyuan and Seoul Incheon, will be operated by another ANA Holdings subsidiary, Peach Aviation (MM, Osaka Kansai).

At a recent media conference, Shibata said ANA Holdings was focused on regaining...

JAL to move 3,000 employees to ZIPAIR, non-core ops

JAL Group will reassign around 3,000 employees from its mainline carrier JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda) to budget unit ZIPAIR (ZG, Tokyo Narita) and non-core operations, as business travel continues to lag in the wake of the pandemic, anonymous sources at the company have told the Nikkei.

With international and business travel still well under pre-pandemic levels but demand for domestic services now at over 90% of what they were before the outbreak, the group will pivot more towards operations related to leisure and tourism, the sources said.

Of the approximately 3,000 workers, around 60% will go to non-aviation units such as the e-commerce and aviation product trader Jalux, while the rest will go to budget carrier businesses such as ZIPAIR - originally unveiled in March 2019 as a low-cost long-haul carrier but which eventually launched passenger operations in October 2020 on a smaller scale amid the ravages of the pandemic. It currently specialises in medium-haul routes, alongside two other LCCs in the group - Jetstar Japan,...