Peach Aviation Confirms More Routes

Start-up Japanese low-cost carrier Peach Aviation has announced it will introduce services on five additional routes during the Northern Summer schedule. The carrier, a joint venture between All Nippon Airways (ANA) and A&F Aviation, is due to begin services, subject to approvals, on March 1, 2012 between its Osaka Kansai International base and Fukuoka and New Chitose.

The airline has already taken delivery of its first two Airbus A320s and is using these for non-scheduled crew training ahead of its launch. A further five aircraft are due for delivery this year as it expands its coverage across Japan and into international markets such as China, Taiwan and South Korea.

This second stage of its network growth includes its first international routes with plans to serve Hong Kong and Taipei Taoyuan as well as domestic flights to Kagoshima, Nagasaki and Okinawa (Naha). The Nagasaki and Kagoshima routes, not currently served by rival carriers, will be operated on a twice daily basis from March 25, 2012 and April 1, 2012, respectively.

The other three routes, which see existing competition, will all start during 2012 although details of launch dates and frequencies have not been released. The Osaka – Okinawa link is currently flown four times daily by ANA and three times daily by Japan Airlines (JAL) with an O&D market of an estimated 885,000 passengers this past year.

The Hong Kong route, a market of around 596,000 O&D passengers is served by Air India, ANA, Cathay Pacific Airways and Hong Kong Express Airways with offer five flights per day; while Cathay Pacific Airways, China Airlines, EVA Air, JAL and Jetstar Airways offer 45 weekly frequencies between Osaka and Taipei, a market of around 822,000 O&D passengers.