| JAL promotes new Asia routes for Fiscal 2002 |
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January 31, 2002
New international routes from Tokyo to Hanoi, Vietnam, and Xiamen in the People's Republic of China, and a new Nagoya-Shanghai service are key features of the JAL Group's operational and fleet plan for FY2002, starting April 1, along with increases of frequency to other destinations in China and Korea.
JAL will also open three new routes within Japan; from July, it will start serving the regional cities of Toyama, Okayama and Yamaguchi-Ube from Tokyo after an increase in slots at Haneda Airport.
The JAL route and equipment plan for FY2002 takes into account the recovering international traffic demand, which slumped badly after September 11. The fall in demand reached bottom in November when international passenger traffic fell by 40 percent compared to November 2000. It has been slowly improving since.
A new, second runway, set to open at Narita Airport on April 18, will provide an expansion of international slots at the congested airport, and additional slots at Haneda will enable expansion within Japan.
International passenger
From June, JAL will launch three weekly flights from Tokyo to Xiamen (Amoy). A twice-weekly service to Hanoi will start in July, and the new Nagoya-Shanghai service will start on April 18. In addition, JAL will increase frequencies between Tokyo-Shanghai, Tokyo-Qingdao, Nagoya-Beijing, Tokyo-Seoul and Tokyo-Pusan.
On international routes where flight frequencies have been reduced or suspended due to the post-September 11 fall in demand, JAL will reinstate service according to recovery trends.
Domestic passenger
From July, the new JAL domestic destinations of Toyama and Okayama will be served three times daily from Tokyo. JAL will also increase frequency on four domestic routes: Nagoya-Okinawa and Itami (Osaka)-Sapporo from April, Haneda-Hakodate from June and Haneda-Hiroshima. Regional jet operator J-Air, based at West Hiroshima Airport, will continue an aggressive expansion following the carrier's introduction of CRJ-200 regional jets in 2001. J-Air plans three new routes: West Hiroshima to Miyazaki and Sapporo and Nagoya to Narita.
International cargo
International cargo services will also benefit from the new runway at Narita, helping JAL to improve its cargo network. International cargo flight frequency will increase on some Europe and Asian routes as well as within Asia. |
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| Note: None of JAL FY2002 route plan takes into account the proposed integration of JAL with Japan Air System. That issue will be addressed after the merger's approval by the Fair Trade Commission. |
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Fleet plans
JAL is disposing of its MD-11 fleet of 10 airplanes, and plans five retirements in FY2002. New aircraft introductions for JAL in total will be three 767-300ER and three 777-200ER aircraft. A new 747 freighter -- a former JAL passenger aircraft converted to cargo carrier -- will be introduced. Subsidiary J-Air will acquire two new Bombardier CRJ-200 50-seat jets in April 2002, increasing its fleet of regional jet to four aircraft. As of March 31, 2003, the planned total JAL Group fleet strength will be 171 aircraft, up by two from March 31, 2002.
JAL GROUP -- FY 2002 SCHEDULE CHANGES IN DETAIL |
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| (1) TRANSPACIFIC |
COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
| 1.TOKYO - LOS ANGELES |
Up to July 14 reduced by 1 flight to 7 per week. From July 15, back to 8 flights per week |
| 2. TOKYO - LAS VEGAS - LOS ANGELES - TOKYO |
Up to July 14 reduced by one flight to 3 per week. On and after July 15, 4 per week |
| TOKYO - LAS VEGAS - SAN FRANCISCO - TOKYO |
Suspension continued until July 14.From July 15, one flight per week. |
| 3. TOKYO - VANCOUVER |
Up to May 31, 3 per week. June and September-October, reduced by 2 to 5 per week. July-August, reduced by 2 to 8 per week. From November, 5 per week. |
| 4. TOKYO - NEW YORK - SAO PAULO |
Up to May 31 reduced by 1 flight to 3 per week. From June, up to 4 per week, with one flight per week extended to and from Nagoya (from April) |
| 5. TOKYO - LOS ANGELES - SAO PAULO |
Suspension continued |
| 6. TOKYO - DALLAS |
Suspension continued (code share flights with AA by AA aircraft are operated daily). |
| 7. OSAKA - CHICAGO |
Suspension continued |
| 8. NAGOYA - LOS ANGELES |
Suspension continued |
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| (2) HAWAII ROUTES |
COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
| 1. TOKYO - HONOLULU |
From April-May 31, 14 per week. June-July between 21-25 per week. Increase to 4 daily (28 per week) from August, October-March31. 26 flights per week in September. |
| 2. OSAKA - HONOLULU |
Up to May 31, 7 flights per week. From June 1, back at 14 per week |
| 3. SAPPORO - HONOLULU (JALways) |
Reduce by 1 flight to 6 per week |
| 4. SENDAI - HONOLULU (JALways) |
4 per week (Resume direct flights.) |
| 5. HIROSHIMA - HONOLULU (JALways) |
2 flights a week, summer season only |
| 6. NIIGATA - HONOLULU (JALways) |
2 flights a week, winter season only |
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| (3) EUROPE COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
| 1. TOKYO - LONDON |
Gradual increase. From August up to 12 flights a week |
| 2. TOKYO - PARIS |
Gradual increase. From July 15, 11 per week |
| 3. TOKYO - ITALY |
From April 18, increase to 7 per week |
| 4. TOKYO - ZURICH |
Resume 2 flights per week from April. Up to 5 per week from June, July-October 7 per week. From November 4 per week |
| 5. OSAKA - FRANKFURT |
Suspension continued |
| 6. NAGOYA - LONDON |
Suspension continued |
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| (4) SOUTH EAST ASIA |
COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
| 1. TOKYO - HONG KONG |
From April, increase to 14 per week |
| 2. TOKYO - MANILA |
From April, increase to 14 per week |
| 3. TOKYO - HANO |
NEW FLIGHT 2 weekly from July (767)In code share operation with Vietnam Airlines offer a total of 4 flights per week Tokyo-Hanoi. |
| 4. TOKYO - JAKARTA - DENPASAR |
From April 18, independent flights, 7 per week, to each destination |
| 5. TOKYO - DELHI |
From October, increase by 1 flight a week to 3 per week |
| 6. OSAKA - HO CHI MINH |
From April 18, JAL resumes service with 3 flights per week and in code share operation with Vietnam Airlines offers a total of 7 flights per week from Osaka to Ho Chi Minh and 4 flights from Ho Chi Minh to Osaka. |
| 7.NAGOYA - MANILA |
From April down by one per week to 3 per week |
| 8.NAGOYA - BANGKOK |
From April JAL & Thai Airways code share flights total 7 per week with one JAL own operation (total 8) |
| 9. FUKUOKA - KAGOSHIMA - HONG KONG |
From October, overfly Kagoshima. |
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| (5) CHINA (PRC) |
COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
| TOKYO - XIAMEN (AMOY) |
New route from June - 3 flights a week (767) |
| TOKYO - BEIJING |
April-July14 seven flights per week, 9 flights per week from July15 to July 31 and twice daily from August |
| TOKYO - SHANGHAI |
twice daily from April 18 |
| TOKYO - QINGDAO |
April 1-17, 3 per week increasing to 4 per week from April 18 |
| TOKYO - DALIAN |
5 flights per week for whole year.(Up 2 flights April-November.) |
| NAGOYA - SHANGHAI |
NEW FLIGHT - Daily from April 18 (767) |
| NAGOYA - BEIJING |
From April 18, 3 flights per week (operation in FY2001 was in August-October only) |
| NAGOYA - TIANJIN |
From April 1-17, 3 flights per week, reducing to 1 per week from April 18 |
| OSAKA - BEIJING |
From April 18, 7 per week |
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| (6) TAIWAN (Japan Asia Airways) |
COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
| TOKYO - TAIPEI |
From April 18 increase by 2 per week to 23 flights p.w. |
| OSAKA - TAIPEI |
From April, increase by 2 flights per week to 21 p.w. |
| OKINAWA - TAIPEI |
Suspension from April |
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| (7) KOREA |
COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
| TOKYO - SEOUL |
April-June 14 flights per week From July 21 flights per week |
| TOKYO - PUSAN |
April 1-17, 6 per week, up to 7 per week from April 18 |
| NAGOYA - SEOUL |
From April, reduce by 4 per week, to 7 per week |
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| (8) MICRONESIA |
COMPARISON TO FY2001 |
| TOKYO - GUAM (JALways) |
From July add 7 flights per week resuming operation of 14 per week |
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