New Carrier Enters Asia Airspace

<B>New Carrier Enters Asia Airspace</B>

By Judy Jacobs

The steady recovery by Japan and Southeast Asia from the economic crisis of 1997-98 has spurred airlines to add new services and routes to their upcoming schedules, while efforts to increase profitability have encouraged ANA to create a new airline and Delta to reorganize two of its transpacific routes.

All Nippon Airways has applied to Japan's Ministry of Transport for approval to launch a new international airline, Air Japan Co. Ltd. The carrier plans to begin service Jan. 1, with one daily flight between Osaka's Kansai International Airport and Seoul, using a single 216-seat B767-300ER leased from ANA.

"We are reorganizing ANA's international route network to boost profitability," said Kichisaburo Nomura, ANA president and CEO. "Air Japan is part of our overall international route network strategy. By gradually transferring to Air Japan selected short- and medium-haul routes currently operated by ANA, and by reorganizing ANA's international route network at our Narita and Kansai hubs, we will be able to improve network efficiency, profitability and connectivity."

The creation of Air Japan also will allow ANA to be more competitive when it bids for new slots at Narita, after the opening of the airport's second runway in 2002. At that time, "we plan to further expand operations to include routes from Tokyo, building a network that meets customer needs to a number of destinations in the Asia/Pacific region," Nomura said.

While ANA is reorganizing its route network by creating a new airline, Delta is rearranging two of its transpacific routes. The carrier has announced plans to discontinue its two daily roundtrip flights between Portland and Tokyo and Nagoya April 1 and replace those routes with daily New York JFK-Tokyo and Los Angeles-Nagoya services beginning the same day. Once the new flights start, Delta will have three daily, nonstop flights to Tokyo--from Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta--and one daily nonstop flight from Nagoya to Los Angeles, all using MD11 aircraft.

Northwest Airlines is another carrier planning to strengthen its Nagoya service when it expands its Detroit-Nagoya flight schedule April 1 from four per week to daily. That route ties the U.S. auto manufacturing center to Japan's commercial center. April 1 is also the day Northwest will increase its Minneapolis-Tokyo service from nine times to 14 times per week. "That will provide a lot more connecting possibilities. Nine other points in Asia connect from Narita," said Doug Killian, Northwest Airlines spokesman.

Service from the United States to one of Northwest's connecting points, Manila, will increase from 18 flights to 21 flights per week. From April 1, Northwest will fly Detroit-Tokyo-Manila, Detroit-Osaka-Manila and Detroit-Nagoya-Manila on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, leading the way in terms of upgrading the number of Asian regional flights, Cathay Pacific is increasing its service to various Southeast Asia destinations by 20 more roundtrip flights. "We have had a strong pick-up in demand around the region over the past year, and we will be using our new aircraft to add extra flights to those growing markets," said Augustus Tang, the airline's director of corporate planning. The new flights will increase Cathay Pacific's total seat capacity by 4 percent.

The airline in late October will boost service between Hong Kong and Hanoi by one per week to a total of three. In December, flights between Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur will increase by four to total 14, and from Hong Kong to Jakarta by two to total 12. In February, Cathay will increase Hong Kong-Taipei service by seven for a total of 95 per week, Hong Kong-Surabaya by one for a total of three and Hong Kong-Cebu by two for a total of seven. Two weeks later, flights between Hong Kong and Denpasar will be upped by three per week to a total of 10.

Cathay Pacific also is making improvements in its aircraft. Following a favorable response by customers to the new first class cabins on its B747-400 aircraft, the company has decided to add first class cabins to 12 of its A340-300s, used on long haul-flights, and four A340-300s, used on medium-haul regional flights. First class seating on the A340 will be reduced from 12 to eight seats and will be a new addition to the A330s, which currently are configured in just two classes. The installation of the new first class cabins will begin in January.

Also beginning next year, Cathay Pacific is working to equip all aircraft in its entire fleet with the capacity for e-mail and intranet service. Passengers will be able to plug in their laptops to a power source, as well as connect to an intranet allowing them to retrieve e-mail messages and search the Web. During November and December, the carrier will be running trials on two aircraft of Tenzing Communications Inc.'s inflight communication services and Honeywell's Total Aircraft Information System.

Meanwhile, Japan Airlines on Nov. 2 is planning to inaugurate twice-weekly nonstop service between Tokyo Narita and Ho Chi Minh City. The flight is code shared with Vietnam Airlines but operated with JAL aircraft and crew. JAL will use a B747-400, configured with 70 business class and 340 economy class seats, on the route.