Japan Air bookings jump
Japan Airlines' bookings to Honolulu are up 25 percent for the summer, the carrier said, matching levels last seen two years ago.
Seats to North America are up 8.5 percent, the airline said.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways Co., the country's two largest carriers, said more people are booking holidays abroad this summer as demand rebounded from last year's SARS outbreak.
The number of people who booked international flights on Japan Airlines, the country's biggest carrier, rose 26 percent to 663,140 between July 16 and Aug. 15 while All Nippon had a 16 percent increase in bookings to 363,576 in the same period, the two carriers said.
Japanese are traveling more as the nation's economic recovery combined with the end of Asia's severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak and encouraged business and leisure travelers to venture abroad.
Recovery is still not strong enough to bring demand to the level seen before the deadly virus outbreak, said Japan Airlines. The airline's summer reservation fell short of the 2002 level by 6.2 percent.
"Demand for leisure travel to Southeast Asia and China is weaker than we thought, which has affected overall overseas demand," said company spokesman Tatsuo Yoshimura.
Japan Airlines' domestic bookings fell 2.3 percent to 4.32 million, the company said. All Nippon's reservation on domestic service gained 1.6 percent, also reaching 4.32 million, the airlines said, citing stronger demand for leisure travel to resort destinations, including Japan's southern island of Okinawa.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon may fill 73 percent of their available seats on international flights with paying passengers during the holiday period, the two carriers said. Seat use on domestic flights may be 68 percent at the two airlines, they said.