Society

Budget airlines in Japan struggle amid pandemic

Oct 12 () - Budget airlines operating in Japan have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with many struggling due to huge declines in passenger demand.

AirAsia Japan will close all four routes in the country on Dec. 5. and fire all of its nearly 270 employees in stages.

“We have concluded that it would be an extremely challenging feat for us to continue operating without any visibility and certainty of a postpandemic recovery path,” Chief Operating Officer Jun Aida said in a statement earlier this month.

A budget airline needs to have a seat occupancy rate of as high as some 80 percent to be profitable. But the pandemic has made it difficult to achieve that threshold.

Jetstar Japan will suspend flights on six of its 23 Japan routes this month through late March next year. It has offered buyout packages to pilots and cabin crew members.

Zipair Tokyo started operations in Japan this year, but has not carried any passenger, providing only cargo services on routes to Bangkok and Seoul from Narita International Airport near Tokyo.

The Japan Airlines unit is scheduled to start carrying passengers on the Seoul route on Friday.

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