Japan Airlines to cut frequency of international flights in Asia region from July 1, 2009

Japan Airlines (JAL), the national airline and flag carrier of Japan, is reducing the frequency of international flights in the Asia region from July 1, 2009.

The airline said in statement that it was temporarily cutting flights in the Asia region on account of poor demand for air travel resulting from the global economic depression.
Japan Airlines, also the largest airline operator in Asia, said that it would “strive to improve profitability by adjusting capacity.”

JAL will maintain the reduced frequency of flights on routes to Beijing, Shanghai (Pudong), Hong Kong and Taipei. The flight frequencies on these routes – which had been cut for a period from March, 2009, to June 2009 – have now been extended for a new term from July 1, 2009.

The number of round-trip flights between Narita International Airport – the main gateway to Tokyo – and Beijing would come down from 19 flights a week to 14 flights a week between August 1, 2009, and October 24, 2009.

Apart from this, the number of weekly flights to Incheon (Seoul) and New Delhi (India) from Narita International Airport in Tokyo as well as flights from Osaka (Kansai Airport) to Shanghai (Pudong) and Incheon (Seoul) would be reduced for a short period till the end of October 2009.

The number of weekly flights between Narita International Airport n Tokyo and Seoul will be slashed from 28 to 21 between July 1, 2009, and October 24, 2009.
Japan Airlines said it would reduce flights between Haneda Airport (another airport in Tokyo) and Hong Kong in September 2009 and October 2009, and between Kansai Airport in western Japan and Seoul from August 1, 2009, to October 24, 2009.
The number of services between Kansai Airport and Shanghai would be trimmed down with effect from August 1, 2009, to October 24, 2009.

Japan Airlines said in the statement that, for customers who have already made reservations on flights that are subject to the changes, alternative flights of Japan Airlines with different timings would be provided.
The Japan Airlines Group is the largest airline group in Asia in terms of sales revenues and the second biggest in Asia in terms of passengers carried annually.
The JAL Group, according to the company, serves 216 airports in 34 countries and territories, including 60 airports in Japan.

Japan Airlines is a member of the Oneworld global airline alliance.