Rising Sun?

Japan’s domestic air traffic market, one of the most mature in Asia, has been stagnant for the past decade and international travel has been dampened by gloomy economic conditions. But the landscape is changing rapidly and competition, particularly between Japan and Australia, is about to heat up.

When Japan’s biggest airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) announced recently it will return to Australia later this year after a 16-year hiatus, closely followed by a doubling of capacity into Tokyo by Qantas last month, a few eyebrows were raised in the travel trade.

After all, over recent years Japan has hardly been the poster child of international air traffic growth.