Charter flights,
fare cuts may spur
Japan-Hawaii travelInternet bookings could
reduce tickets by as much
as 70%, a newspaper says
A mixture of new charter flights and heavy discounts should boost Japanese travel to Hawaii this winter.
Japan Airlines said it will run 26 charter flights to Honolulu from regional airports starting in November and operating through March, largely replacing scheduled service from those areas that JAL dropped in July because of poor business.
There will be 12 flights from Sapporo, 10 from Sendai and four from Niigata, said Gilbert Kimura, JAL's top executive in Hawaii.
Separately, Japan's leading economic daily, Nihon Keizai, reported that JAL's scheduled services will cut some Hawaii fares by as much 70 percent in a special Internet-only offer to be announced next month. Kimura said he had not heard of that, but Nihon Keizai is a reliable publication.
He also said some fares from Hawaii to Japan will drop below $500 in a winter promotion.
All Nippon Airways, which ran Hawaii flights from regional airports in Japan until last year, is also getting back into that business, with charters instead of scheduled flights, Nihon Keizai reported. The publication said ANA plans 30 charters to Honolulu from Sendai, Sapporo, Kansai and possibly Ube and Toyama.
ANA officials could not be reached for comment.
Both airlines maintain daily scheduled service from Tokyo to Honolulu and JAL also flies a Tokyo-Kona route.
