TokyoHaneda.com – Your Gateway to Japan

Japan finally will see the arrival of a true low-cost carrier happening. Malaysian’s budget carrier AirAsia Group has said that it plans to launch its first flights serving Japan by the end of the year. The flight will be operated by AirAsia X, the long-distance arm of AirAsia, to serve between Kuala Lumpur’s new Low-Cost Terminal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital and Tokyo Haneda Airport, at a frequency of 3 flights weekly. It hopes to increase the frequency making it a daily service. The Japanese government has already allotted landing and takeoff slots to AirAsia X at Haneda airport, soon to open its International terminal building end of the year.

The aircraft type will be an Airbus A330 aircraft, a mid-size fleet with good fuel efficiency, and commonly used among low-cost carriers. Airfare can go as low as 14,000yen one-way with introductory airfare planning at 2500yen to catch the eyes of the discerning Japanese travellers. In addition, AirAsia will not implement the fuel surcharge to appeal to its customers. Japanese are usually weary of low priced goods and are doubtful if the service offered will be up to the basic. However, for many who has travelled with AirAsia before would know that even as an LCC it is comparable to some full-fledge carriers, and could even fair better in service standards. It has won numerous service awards and received accolades from key travel industries worldwide. AirAsia saw its passenger traffic jump year on year, even overtook asia’s powerhouse, Singapore Airlines, to become the biggest carrier in Southeast Asia.

Just like any other low-cost carriers, complimentary meal service will not be served and meals and beverages will be sold instead. Fees will be charged for bringing any extra luggage exceeding the 7kg allowance for carry-on. And stripping its costs to the bare minimum, reservations can only be made online and thus credit card is required to make a purchase. As such there won’t be phone booking available as it will inflate the running costs.

AirAsia is also planning to introduce flights to New Chitose Airport(CTS) in Sapporo, Kansai International Airport(KIX) in Osaka and Fukuoka International Airport(FUK). Unfortunately, it has left out the newly opened Ibaraki Airport, only opened last month and is trying hard to win airlines to using its airport.

Meanwhile, AirAsia X is also tipped to receive the rights to fly to Seoul and other cities soon. It will officially start flying to Mumbai in May and New Delhi in August.

Haneda airport is set to upgrade its Instrument Landing System (ILS) from the present Category II to Category III following cancellation of hundred over flights due to dense fog last week. Last Thursday in the morning, an area of warm, moist air flowed into the Kanto region from the south, which cooled over Tokyo Bay, caused fog to flow into coastal areas. Resulting in bad visibility, paralizing aircraft movements at Tokyo’s Haneda airport and forcing most airlines to cancel flights or to reroute them, disrupting thousands of travelers.

An upgrade to CAT-III instrument landing approach procedures would allow aircraft to begin approach with close to zero visibility, landing in the densest fog, said Mr Maihara, the transport minister. Haneda airport, which is now operating a CAT-II approach and landing system will progressively upgrade for operations under CAT-III conditions. This will enable aircraft to make an approach and land under extremely low visibility conditions up to visibility minima of 30 meters and below, or having no decision height and no runway visual range limitations, as against the current visibility minima of 30 meters and a runway visual range not less than 300 meters (350 meters for certain aircrafts) for CAT-II operations.

The upgrade help optimize operational capability, greatly reduce disruptions caused by weather, reaffirming Haneda’s commitment, is also viewed by many as an essential component for positioning Haneda airport as an International hub.