Fleet Census - Orient Aviation

COMMUTER AVIATION
‘The Haneda capacity
[increase]is a vital business
expansion opportunity for us
and we must be ready to take
maximum advantage of it’
JAL Group spokesman
Japan Airlines’ J-Air: it will soon add Embraers to its fleet
By Charles Anderson
Dramatic increases in slot
availability at Tokyo’s
Haneda airport when its
fourth runway opens in
2009 will allow Japan’s
two main airlines to increase domestic
frequencies and bring more efficient aircraft
into play.
The Haneda factor was the key to JAL’s
announcement in late February that it is to
buy 10 78-seat Embraer 170 E-Jets and place
options on five more, for use by its J-AIR
regional subsidiary.
“The expansion represents a double
chance for JAL,” said a group spokesman.
“We will launch short to medium-haul
international scheduled flights, but we will
also be able to expand our domestic services
by increasing frequencies on regional routes
as well as trunk routes from Haneda.
“We are also downsizing the size of our
aircraft, hence the need for small regional
jets. Now, at Haneda the average aircraft
size per movement is 330 seats. At most
other international airports the average is
about 150, so you can see the effects of the
present limitation.”
All Nippon Airways (ANA), meanwhile,
said it is restructuring its domestic network
around a hub and spoke model. Increases at
Haneda will allow it to progress further with
that plan at a time when domestic operations
are facing increasing competition from the
Shinkansen bullet train and suffering the
effects of a dwindling population outside
the main cities.
Movements at Haneda, the only domestic
New Haneda runway
will be major boost
for commuter jets
airport serving the Japanese capital, are to
increase by nearly 40%, with the limit on
daily round-trip flights increasing from
391 to 557. At present Haneda also handles
some international flights. These will also
increase, although the government has not
said by how many.
The JAL deal marked a major win for
Embraer against Bombardier, which was
hoping to seal a deal for its CRJ700-CRJ900
series. It already has nine 50-seat CRJ200s
in operation with J-AIR, which taken with
IBEX Airlines’ four CRJ100s and CRJ200s,
are the only commuter jets at present flying in
a country where the Canadian manufacturer
has enjoyed considerable sales success with
its Q-series turboprops.
The Embraers may be used in tandem
with the CRJ200s on some routes as JAL
pushes to recover lost domestic market share
that now stands at some 46% against ANA’s
48%, with 6% going to local operators and
new entrants.
“The increased frequencies will give
us better domestic competitiveness, not
only against ANA and [Japan’s] newcomer
airlines, but also against the Shinkansen
bullet train,” said the spokesman.
New airports at Kobe, Kitakyushu and
Chubu have all contributed to domestic
growth, said the JAL spokesman, but, with
62% of all domestic traffic going in an out
of Haneda, it is “the jewel in the crown of
Japan’s domestic air travel market.”
“The Haneda capacity [increase] is a
vital business expansion opportunity for
us and we must be ready to take maximum
advantage of it.”
JAL also owns the Japan Air Commuter
subsidiary which operates Q400s and Saab
340B turboprops on relatively short routes
between regional cities. ANA has 14 Q400s
and Q300s in its domestic fleet and has no
plans to expand this number or to add jets at
present, although that may change with time.
Its Air Next subsidiary operates B737-500s
on domestic routes.
“In future we might consider ordering jets
in the capacity range between our B737s and
Q400s,” said the ANA spokesman.
ANA’s turboprops typically serve its
domestic hub at Osaka Itami, or local point-
40 ORIENT AVIATION APRIL 2007