Will we soon be able to fly from Paris to Tokyo for less than 500 euros return? Unthinkable just five years ago, this perspective is no longer in the realm of utopia with the rise of long-haul low-cost airlines. For the past two or three years, airlines such as Scoot (Singapore), AirAsia X (Malaysia) and Nokscoot and Thai AirAsia X (Thailand) have been linking several Japanese cities to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Phuket, with flights averaging five to six hours.
For the time being, Japan Airlines has excluded itself from this development, but not for much longer. Japan's national carrier now wants to tackle this segment. by 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympic Games. Its aim will be to offer flights not only to the rest of Asia - probably to Thailand, Malaysia and Bali - but also, and this is new, to Europe and the United States.
In Europe, Norwegian, Scoot and Eurowings already offer long-haul routes to Asia, also targeting a business market. Scoot and Norwegian, for example, operate routes between Berlin and London and Singapore. But no low-cost carrier currently serves Europe from Japan.
It is true that Europe would be an ideal market for a few back-up low-cost routes. We can, for example, imagine the launch of routes to Tokyo-Berlin, Tokyo-Nice, Tokyo-Lyon or even Tokyo-Geneva. A low-cost subsidiary with lower operating costs, good-sized aircraft and low fuel consumption, such as the Airbus A350 or Boeing 787, combined with attractive fares, would probably have a good chance of capturing new markets. A product that could also appeal to business travellers, who might be tempted by a non-stop service rather than a transfer.
According to initial information from JAL's management, the name of the company's future brand has not yet been decided, nor has the final size of the fleet or the future network. However, a few strategic points are certain: the airline will be based at Narita airportOne of Tokyo's two international airports, future routes will be offered by Boeing 787-800 and will complement those already operated by JAL. In principle, these routes will be to destinations other than Paris, London, Frankfurt or Zurich.
The future low-cost airline will also offer a Premium/business product, because this segment remains important on the Europe-Japan market. Not only for Japanese businessmen, who often travel in business class - even on a low-cost carrier - for image reasons, but also for European customers, particularly SMEs, who will at least be able to upgrade on one flight segment, for example. What's more, business class on a low-cost carrier maximises revenue for the carrier offering it...
While Japan Airlines is a 33% shareholder in Jetstar Japan, in partnership with Australia's Qantas, a new adventure is opening up for the Japanese national carrier.
