AirAsia Japan to begin winding down operations from September

AirAsia Japan (JW, Tokyo Narita) will suspend 14 daily flights from September 1 through to October 26, before winding up operations completely come October 31. In a statement, the carrier said the cancellations, which would affect 14,000 passengers, "reflected a lack of planes to service all its routes". The airline will close its Nagoya Chu-bu base from September 1 affecting the following flights to: Fukuoka, Sapporo Chitose and Seoul Incheon while from October 1, the following routes out of Tokyo Narita will be affected: Okinawa Naha (1 daily service cancelled), Sapporo Chitose (reduced from 3x to 1x daily). From October 1 until its termination, AirAsia Japan will see a reduced service which includes: Tokyo Narita to Busan (1 daily), Fukuoka (2 daily), Sapporo (1 daily), Seoul Incheon (2 daily) and Taipei Taoyuan (1 daily). Announcing the dissolution of AirAsia Japan in June, the airline's 49% shareholder, Malaysia's AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur Int'l) cited a "fundamental difference of opinion between its shareholders on how the business should be managed, from cost management to where the domestic business operations should be based". Majority shareholder, ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda), however, said the venture dissolved because "it was not well known in Japan and could not register profits" and now plans to launch a new budget brand in November.




http://www.ch-aviation.ch/portal/news/20739-airasia-japan-to-begin-winding-down-operations-from-september