Rising suns

In ultra-conservative Japan it is extremely rare for senior executives to publicly vent their feelings. But as once-dominant Japan Airlines, the recovered bankrupt and rival All Nippon Airways fight toe-to-toe for market domination, emotions are running high over perceived political bias and unfair treatment.

South Korea’s Incheon International Airport may seem like an odd place to start a story about the latest developments on Japan’s airline industry landscape, but it holds a vital clue to where the battle between national flag carrier Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) is becoming increasingly focused: away from a mature domestic arena that holds little promise of significant future gains and towards the international front.

It is important because the latest monthly statistics from Korea’s major hub show an 11 per cent drop in transfer passengers heading from Japan, via Incheon, to the US or Europe. It’s a reversal in fortunes which is gathering pace. For years Japanese travellers, sick and tired of the congestion at Tokyo’s Narita airport, avoided their own capital flying from secondary cities to Seoul to connect with long-haul flights, essentially turning Incheon into a third Japanese hub, after Narita and Osaka’s Kansai. According to Korean airport authorities, between April and August this year 389,557 transit passengers from Japan passed through Incheon, down 9. 1 per cent over the same period last year.