TOKYO — Japan Airlines is scrambling to turn around its air transportation operations hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The major Japanese airline is promoting the structural reform of its full service carrier business as it cannot expect a full recovery in the number of business travelers, even in the post-coronavirus period.
Meanwhile, JAL is staying ahead of the curve. It is taking measures to cash in on the expectedrecovery in tourism demand in the post-coronavirus period, including additional investments in affiliated low-cost carriers.
JAL President Yuji Akasaka spoke about the company’s business strategy in an interview with Nikkei.
Akasaka painted a downbeat picture of the FSC business outlook. Noting that the main customers of the FSC business had so far been business travelers, he said that demand from such customers would “certainly decline” following the scourge of COVID-19.
“As more and more things can be done remotely, this understanding is shared by customers from any companies we have talked with,” he said. “Since [FSC] demand declines, we need to scale back supply.”
JAL is already proceeding with the early retirement of large aircraft such as the Boeing 777. Akasaka indicated a policy of further cutting operating costs in the future by replacing large aircraft with fuel-efficient aircraft such as the A350, Airbus’ mid-sized plane.
Meanwhile, JAL is clearly going on the offensive in the LCC business. The carrier plans to make Spring Airlines Japan, a Japanese subsidiary of major Chinese LCC Spring Airlines, a consolidated subsidiary by the end of June. Spring Airlines Japan is based in Narita, in Chiba prefecture.
Akasaka said, “Although a recovery in demand [for air travel] depends on [COVID-19] vaccinations, tourism demand, especially in Asia, will recover earlier…