Asiana Airlines has decided to withdraw from its Okinawa route from Busan. A sharp decline occurred in Japanese air passengers as anti-Japanese sentiment has intensified due to Japan‘s export regulations. Jeju Air and other low-cost carriers have also begun cutting back on their routes to Japan. Critics point out that as the inflow of new reservations from Japanese routes has decreased, full-fledged restructuring is beginning.
The airlines announced on Thursday that it will suspend flights on routes between Busan and Okinawa from this Sunday. Asiana Airlines is currently operating on the route three times a week.
The aircraft is a 160-seat A320. As for reasons for suspension of operations, Asiana Airlines stated that it is adjusting supply according to demands. It has started to respond to the spread of Korean’s refusal to travel to Japan, and demand for Japanese routes has decreased rapidly.
Asiana announced earlier last month that it would reduce the supply of seats from A330 to A321 (174 seats) and B767 (250 seats). Which can carry 290 people on three routes (Fukuoka, Osaka and Okinawa) from Incheon.
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Not only Aisana Airlines, other South Korean airlines are cutting down routes to Japan as well
Korean Air is also cutting back on its routes to Japan. Following its announcement late last month that it will suspend flights between Busan and Sappor. Starting in September, the government decided to deploy smaller aircraft on four routes from Incheon — Sapporo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Nagoya.
LCCs, which had been preemptively adjusting routes to Japan before large airlines, are also cutting back on additional supplies.
According to Jeju Air on Monday, Jeju Air will cut some of its routes to Japan, which has a low occupancy rate. It includes nine routes including Incheon, Tokyo, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Okinawa. Muan-Tokyo and Osaka, Busan-Osaka and Fukuoka are also subject to the adjustment.
The period of the reduction will run from July 25 to October 26, and the reduction will take place for up to nine weeks on each route. Incheon-Saporo route has the most number of cutbacks at 78 during the period. Followed by Busan-Osaka (56), Muan-Osaka (54), and Incheon-Nagoya (36).
“It is not just a Japanese route that is subject to adjustment,” a Jeju Air official said in Daegu during the same period. The cuts will also be made on Taipei, Muan-Macao routes, he said. Explaining that some of the sluggish routes will be adjusted to set new routes to China and schedule winter operations.
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More routes suspend in immediate future
Air Seoul will not operate six routes between Incheon and Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Okinawa and Tottori for the month of September. Incheon-Okinawa routes have the largest number of non-operating flights at 13 times.
“We are not suspending all flights in September, but we are suspending certain flights on certain dates due to maintenance of aircraft,” an Air Seoul official said. Other LCCs are also preparing to suspend and cut flights on Japanese routes.
According to the travel industry, T-Way Airlines will stop operating the Incheon-Kagoshima route and cut off the Incheon, Oita and Okinawa routes. While Jin Air plans to cut five routes to Incheon-Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.
LCCs have been cutting back on Japanese routes since last month. T-way Airlines has already suspended flights on the Muan-Oita route since April 24. And regular flights such as Daegu-Kumamoto and Busan-Sasa will also be suspended in September. Air Busan will cut its Daegu-Osaka routes from two to one a day from September. While Daegu-Tokyo routes will be suspended.
Eastar Jet also announced last month that it would suspend flights between Busan and Osaka and Sapporo. And on September 6, it suspended three routes; Incheon-Ibaraki, Cheongju-Osaka and Sapporo.
Three routes from Incheon, including Kagoshima, will be cut in service, it said. The numbers are now showing a sharp drop in demand for passengers on routes to Japan, with the rate of reservations for routes to Japan becoming clear since late last month,” an airline industry source said.
