Air Asia and All Nippon Airways Joining Forces to Budget Flight Service in Japan

All Nippon Airways and South-East Asia’s largest budget carrier, AirAsia, are joining forces to establish a low-cost airline.

AirAsia Japan will be the first low-cost carrier to be based at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport when it begins domestic and international operations next year, the companies said.

They are planning to begin services by August 2012, which means you’ll soon be able to secure cheap flights around Japan and as far afield as South Korea and Taiwan.

All Nippon Airways will hold a 67 percent stake in the AirAsia Japan venture in terms of voting rights, with AirAsia holding the remainder.

They cited Japan’s aviation market as “undergoing rapid transformation with developments including the expansion of Open Skies agreements and increased domestic competition from road and rail-based travel”.

AirAsia Japan will serve the Japanese domestic market from Narita airport as well as South Korea and Taiwan.

Narita, a major international hub is also seeking to increase capacity with the introduction of a new terminal and is expected to attract many low-cost carriers and foreign airlines, amid expectations of increasing competition in Japanese airspace.

Japan’s existing cheaper domestic carriers such as Skymark and Air Do have been unable to offer the kind of heavily discounted fares associated with budget airlines in the United States and Europe due to higher operating costs.

AirAsia has other similar joint ventures in South-East Asia – in Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand – while its long-haul airline AirAsia X flies to Tokyo’s Haneda airport.

“AirAsia Japan will not only boost economic growth between ASEAN and East Asia by providing better access to markets around the region, but also enhance links within travel, trade and tourism,” AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes said.

Get JetBlue Partner Airlines Ticket on JetBlue Dot Com

JetBlue Airways is making it even easier to travel on its interline partners with today’s announcement that tickets that include travel on Aer Lingus, American Airlines and Cape Air are now available for sale on jetblue.com. Aer Lingus and American Airlines tickets that include travel on JetBlue are already available on aerlingus.com and aa.com.

“Our growing presence in New York, Boston, and San Juan has positioned us to take advantage of important partnership opportunities,” said Robin Hayes, JetBlue’s Chief Commercial Officer. “This ability leverages our jetblue.com platform to drive even more benefit from our interline partnerships, while adding tremendous advantages to our customer, with more options and flexibility.”

For years, JetBlue’s website has made it easy for customers to book travel anywhere within the JetBlue network in just a few clicks. With this website enhancement, JetBlue is expanding the geographic reach of the site, allowing customers to book travel from within the JetBlue network to new international markets in Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean – still with just a few easy clicks (a).

Aer Lingus

“Today’s announcement marks the continued development of Aer Lingus’ partnership with JetBlue, with a focus on providing customers with increased options from more U.S. markets to Ireland and other European destinations,” said Jack Foley, Aer Lingus’ Executive Vice President, North America. “Moreover, it reaffirms Aer Lingus’ commitment to providing low fares access for customers from new markets across the U.S.”

Now both jetblue.com and aerlingus.com, successful partners since 2008, offer customers the option to purchase tickets that include space on both carriers. Customers can fly from points within the JetBlue network to Boston or JFK, connect to Aer Lingus’ transatlantic service to Ireland, and then to over a dozen destinations across Europe.

American Airlines

“Our successful partnership with JetBlue has given our customers more travel options and has allowed us to grow in new markets,” said Virasb Vahidi, American’s Chief Commercial Officer. “With this new milestone of selling our tickets on each other’s website, our customers will benefit more from the strong networks of both airlines.”

Now, an American customer can buy AA tickets at jetblue.com, and a JetBlue customer can purchase JetBlue tickets at aa.com – giving customers of both carriers new sales channels from which to purchase tickets. The two carriers launched their partnership in March 2010 with an enhanced interline agreement, slot exchange and employee travel program. To date, the carriers have added new interline routes, instituted benefits to members of both carriers’ frequent flier programs and, with today’s announcement, allow customers to buy tickets on each others websites. To learn more about this partnership, go to: http://www.jetblue.com/flying-on-jetblue/airline-partners/american-airlines.asp.

Bookings are available to and from any of the 26 domestic JetBlue cities, and the 15 international American Airlines cities that are included in the carriers’ interline agreement. Furthermore, TrueBlue members are now able to rack up points on American’s flights between New York’s Kennedy Airport and Barcelona, Spain; Brussels, Belgium; Buenos Aires, Argentina; London, England; Madrid, Spain; Manchester, England; Milan, Italy; Paris, France; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Rome, Italy; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Tokyo (Narita), Japan; Tokyo (Haneda), Japan; and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as American’s new non-stop service to Budapest, Hungary. Customers flying or connecting through Boston can also earn points when flying to London, England and Paris, France.

Cape Air

“The timing is perfect,” said Cape Air President Dave Bushy. “As our busy summer season approaches on Cape Cod and the Islands, as well as the Caribbean and Florida, the ease of booking the entire trip on-line, with direct baggage transfers, is a huge convenience for our passengers.”

Cape Air was JetBlue’s first airline partner dating back to 2007 when JetBlue began to market and sell Cape Air flights between Boston and Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Provincetown, Hyannis and Rutland, Vermont under a codeshare agreement. Today’s announcement of the interline capabilities of jetblue.com will provide customers with access to an expanded list of destinations in Cape Air’s Northeast U.S. network, as well as to its Caribbean network via San Juan, P.R. and to Key West, Florida via Fort Myers.

Other Interline Partners

JetBlue has interline agreements in place with six other airlines: EL AL Israel Airlines, Emirates, LAN Airlines, Lufthansa, South African Airways, and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Although customers cannot yet use jetblue.com to book tickets that include space on those airlines, it expects to add more partners to the website over the coming year.

American Airlines and British Airways Take Flight in Tokyo

American Airlines and British Airways have launched their new Tokyo Haneda International Airport flights.

Both airlines’ inaugural services from the Japanese capital’s newly expanded gateway departed within minutes of one another yesterday morning.

American is now offering the only flights between Tokyo Haneda and New York, with its daily JFK schedule complementing Japan Airlines’ established service between Haneda and San Francisco. Both services carry the codes of both airlines.

British Airways is operating Haneda’s only route to the UK, serving the airport an initial five times a week non-stop from its London Heathrow hub, in addition to its established daily Tokyo Narita schedule.

Yesterday’s debut services were marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Tokyo Haneda hosted by American’s VP and managing director Asia/Pacific Theo Panagiotoulias and British Airways’ area GM Asia Pacific Jamie Cassidy, joined by Japan Airlines president Masaru Onishi.

American’s VP and MD Asia/Pacific Theo Panagiotoulias said: “We are very excited by this new flight that links two of the world’s largest financial markets and offers passengers the ability to fly from New York to Haneda, the closest airport to downtown Tokyo, and which hasn’t had service from the USA since 1978 when Tokyo’s Narita International Airport opened. We also are pleased to be offering this new service as part of our new transpacific joint venture with our valued oneworld partner, Japan Airlines.”

British Airways’ Area GM Asia Pacific Jamie Cassidy added: “Today is a historic day for British Airways as we start our new route from Haneda which compliments our existing service from Narita. The start of this route allows us to offer our customers greater choice and flexibility. We are proud to be the only carrier operating from Haneda direct to the UK. The start of this service demonstrates our commitment to Japan and the deepening of our growing relationship with JAL.”

Japan Airlines president Masaru Onishi stated: “Japan Airlines began operating on new international routes from Haneda at the end of October last year. Passenger numbers have been very encouraging and are a good indication of the demand for flights to and from Haneda. The launch of

American’s and British Airways’ flights today is undoubtedly great news for the traveling public in Japan and is certain to strengthen further oneworld’s service offerings to customers.”

In addition to the new flight from Haneda to New York JFK, American and its partner Japan Airlines also offer non-stop daily service from Tokyo’s Narita Airport to JFK. American flies between the US and Tokyo using Boeing 777 aircraft with 247 seats – 16 in First Class, 37 in Business Class and 194 in Economy Class.

Flight AA135 will depart JFK daily at 6:10pm, arriving at Haneda at 10:15pm the following day. The return AA134 will depart Haneda at 6:40am daily, landing at JFK at 5:15 am the same day.

With the launch of the its new five-a-week service from Haneda in addition to its daily Tokyo Narita schedule, British Airways will operate 12 flights a week between Tokyo and London Heathrow.

Flight BA7 will depart London Heathrow on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 8am, landing at Haneda at 5am the next day. The return flight BA8 will depart Haneda on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at 6:25 am, arriving at Heathrow at 10am the same day.