Japan Airlines Co (JAL) bookings over a stretch of national holidays starting next week fell by the most in at least six years as the carrier, which exited bankruptcy last month, cut capacity to improve profitability.
International reservations for Japan’s so-called Golden Week from Thursday to May 8 plunged about 33 percent and bookings for domestic flights dropped 26 percent from a year earlier, Tokyo-based Japan Air said in a statement on its Web site on Friday.
All Nippon Airlines Co (ANA), the nation’s biggest listed carrier, had 9 percent more international bookings than last year as it added services to cities, including Jakarta, Manila and Munich over the past year, according to its Web site.
Japan’s biggest airlines and global rivals have pared services after last month’s record earthquake and tsunami. Holiday reservations fell amid mourning for the dead, aftershocks, power shortages and the risk of radiation contamination of food, air and water.
JAL’s international and domestic capacity will be about 24 percent lower this year than last, according to the statement. The carrier this week said it would extend reductions in overseas flights because demand has dropped.
The cuts will last until as late as June 1 and include flights to Honolulu, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong from Tokyo Narita airport.
ANA on April 7 said it would reduce services from Tokyo to Sapporo, Fukuoka and Okinawa starting the second week of this month and cut flights between the capital and Incheon, South Korea, and Beijing. The reductions will run through the end of next month, the carrier said on April 14.
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