Japan Airlines may be on the verge of announcing new direct services between Tokyo and Perth, according to carrier’s chairman.
Speaking to media in Dallas over the weekend, Masaru Onishi said the airline was eying Perth as the next ‘possible destination’ for the airline in 2016.
The Western Australian, reported the airline is still in early stages of planning but it was possible the service would operate daily using the carrier’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
KarryOn has contacted Japan Airlines for confirmation.
If the carrier were to go-ahead with plans, it would be Perth’s first direct link to Japan since Qantas cut its Tokyo connection back in May 2011 – two months after the Great East Japan earthquake struck, killing some 15,893 people. At the time, the service ran three-times weekly and was operated in partnership with Japan Airlines.
Qantas said back in 2011 that the decision to axe the service was due to cost-cutting measures. However, tourism to Japan unsurprisingly fell drastically after the big quake from 8.6 million in 2010 to around 6.2 million in 2011.
Since, Japan’s numbers have steadily increased and now exceed pre-quake figures, with around around 10.3 million people travelling to the Land of the Rising Sun in 2013 and some 13.4 million visiting in 2014.
Australians were the country’s seventh largest market last year, falling just behind Thailand and the USA. Around 302,700 Aussies visited Japan in 2014, up 23.8 percent compared to the prior year.
With such large growth from the Australian market, it would make sense for airlines such as Japan Airlines to want to meet demand with new services.
Currently, Japan only operates services from Sydney to Tokyo while the carrier’s competitor, All Nippon Airways, is planning to commence services on the same route this week.
Qantas also recently turned its attention to the destination by launching double daily services to Tokyo and commencing services from Brisbane to Narita.