7 of the 28 weekly runs from
Tokyo will be dropped because of
sluggish demand

By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

Japan Airlines said it will reduce the number of its Tokyo to Honolulu flights by one-fourth in November, due in part to the sluggish market.

Japan's largest airline said it will lower the number of its weekly, 747 jumbo-jet flights to Honolulu to 21 from the current 28. The jets can carry from 410 to 460 passengers each, according to the airline.

The move comes as JAL is increasing the number of its weekly direct flights to Kona in November to seven from four.

Bob Gano, JAL's manager of public relations in New York, said the airline typically drops a few flights on its Tokyo-to-Honolulu routes during the November to March winter period.

But this year, the flight reductions were more pronounced due to sluggish demand, he said.

"It's more of a drop than in recent years," Gano said this morning. "Demand wasn't there this year."

Japanese visitors accounted for about 2.1 million of Hawaii's more than 6.5 million tourists last year.

They also account for about two-fifths of all visitor expenditures here. But with the recent softness in the yen and the weak economy, travel from Japan has softened.

Barbara Okamoto, director of market research at the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau, said that eastbound arrivals -- from all Asia-Pacific areas but dominated by Japanese tourists -- were flat for the first six months of this year, at 1.35 million.

Particularly bad was January, when the eastbound visitor count fell 8 percent. And June's count for eastbound tourists dropped 5 percent. "It's been a pretty bumpy time," she said.

Okamoto said it's too early to gauge the impact of the $6 million in emergency funding for tourism marketing in Japan approved by the Hawaii Legislature this year. She said the impact of that program, kicked off in late May, probably won't be seen until August or September.

Gano noted that the airline has adjusted its flights to Honolulu to cope with the Hawaii's changing market. Besides adding Kona flights, it has has increased flights between Honolulu and Sendai, Japan, over the years. The airline said it will boost flights on routes from Tokyo to Los Angeles, Bangkok, Singapore, Manila and Guam in October.

The airline also said it will increase joint flights with foreign airlines on routes between Nagoya and Vancouver and between Tokyo and Auckland, New Zealand.

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Kyodo News Service contributed to this report.