Airline companies China Eastern and Japan Airlines will be joining forces in a joint venture, the first of its kind in Asia, under an agreement that should be finalised next April, if approved by the anti-trust authorities in China and Japan. This joint venture is the logical continuation of theopen skies agreement concluded in 2012 between China and Japan, increasing the number of flights between the two countries. In 2017, the Japan-China market accounted for 9.9 million seatsThis is the second largest market after the Japan-Korea axis.
The two carriers have already put in place a code sharing covering certain flights and reciprocal frequent flyer programmes. But the new partnership will also enable them to intensify the coordination of their schedules, develop fare strategies, improve transit times at their hubs and coordinate ground operations at airports.
The China Eastern and Japan Airlines agreement will include domestic flights within China and Japan. This represents some 80 Chinese cities and 50 Japanese cities linked together.
This joint venture creates a powerful new airline operator. Together, the two carriers will offer this summer 3.40 million seats each week. China Eastern is one of the three giants of Asian air transport, with more than 87.65 million passengers last year. The company is based in Shanghai and is a member of the Skyteam. Japan Airlines carried more than 42 million passengers in fiscal year 2017 and is a member of the alliance Oneworld.
The new alliance could lead to the creation of other similar joint ventures between Chinese and Japanese airlines. We are naturally thinking of Air China with All Nippon AirwaysThe two carriers already cooperate within the Star Alliance.
Above all, this joint venture could be extended to other Asian airlines, particularly in South-East Asia. For carriers such as Thai Airways International, Vietnam Airlines or Singapore Airlines - With all three airlines carrying large volumes of passengers to both Japan and China, integration into a joint venture would provide real strategic control over passenger volumes between South-East Asia and North-East Asia.
In addition, Japan Airlines has confirmed the launch of a long-haul low-cost airline before the opening of the Tokyo Olympic Games. The Japanese carrier confirms that the future entity will offer flights to Europe and North America, with the future base at the airport of Tokyo Narita.
