AirAsia to shut down Japan operations

NHK -- Oct 06

Low-cost carrier AirAsia Japan says it will discontinue all of its flight routes and close down operations in the country. It says it cannot expect a recovery in passenger demand because of the impact of Covid-19.

The airline says all four of its routes will be abolished on December 5. It operates flights between Chubu Airport in central Japan and Sapporo, Sendai, Fukuoka and Taipei.

The airline suspended all international and domestic flights from April.

Operations in Japan resumed in August, but the carrier stopped all domestic flights again from this month. All flights have been canceled through October 24. Services are expected to remain canceled until December 5.

AirAsia Japan said in a statement that despite its efforts to sustain operations through successive and wide-ranging cost reduction initiatives, the company has concluded that it would be extremely challenging to continue operations without any visibility and certainty of a post-pandemic recovery.

The airline is a joint venture between Malaysia-based AirAsia Group and Japanese partners and began operations in 2017.

Oct 06 (CBCニュース) - 中部空港に拠点を置くLCC・格安航空会社の「エアアジア・ジャパン」は、新型コロナウイルスの影響による業績の悪化から、ことし12月5日付で全路線を廃止すると発表しました。  エアアジア・ジャパンは、2017年から中部空港を拠点に、札幌など国内3路線と台北の国際線1路線を運航。  しかし、ことし4月に大幅に利用者が落ち込んで全便を運休し、8月から国内線を再開したものの、10月から再び全便運休していました。(