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Jeju Air nixes charter flights from Osaka
Despite the Marianas Visitors Authority effort to push hard for charter flights to pick up the Japan market, Jeju Air has decided not to launch direct charter flights from Osaka to the CNMI, according to MVA managing director Perry Tenorio.
If Jeju had decided yes, that would have brought the Japan market back up.
Last May, Tenorio said that they were waiting for a response from the budget airline whether Jeju Air will fly to either Guam or the CNMI out of Osaka.
Despite commitments from CNMI hotels, financial commitments by MVA, and travel partners in Osaka trying to persuade Jeju Air to choose the CNMI, Jeju Air eventually nixed the idea.
“Jeju Air has decided not to fly from Osaka to either Guam or Saipan for the time being,” Tenorio said. “We will continue to work with Jeju Air on new service from both Korea and Japan.”
With the pull out of Delta Air Lines flights this winter, Tenorio said that MVA Japan and key Japan travel agents are working with Delta to launch an incentive booking campaign “in order to boost bookings on Delta 288 during this traditionally low and shoulder season in order to work with Delta on re-instating the flight from 2016.”
Securing low-cost carriers that will fly to the Commonwealth and adding more hotel rooms are keys to boosting Japanese arrivals to the islands.
The Japan market has seen a precipitous decline in arrivals since Japan Airlines cancelled flights to the Commonwealth. The Japan market is expected to go down further, as Delta Air Lines will reduce its flights to Saipan this winter.
The lack of airlift to replace the loss of Japan Airlines’ service from Osaka and Narita and the loss of Delta Air Lines service from Nagoya means that CNMI arrival numbers from Japan have fallen steadily since then.
The Fukushima earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and the consumption tax hike in Japan in April 2014 also significantly impacted Japanese visitor numbers, reaching a low of 110,234 visitors to the CNMI last year.
MVA board chair Marian Aldan-Pierce earlier told Saipan Tribune that MVA continues to reach out to other airlines, including low cost carriers, and is collaborating with Delta Air Lines and major Japanese travel agents to pick the market back up.
