With COVID-19 restrictions impeding travel to Japan, the country’s airlines are focusing more heavily on transit traffic at their Tokyo hubs to rebuild international operations.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has denied authorization for Qantas Airways and Japan Airlines (JAL) to coordinate flights between Australia and Japan.
Recent examples show that airlines in Asia-Pacific are willing to devote resources to sustainability efforts at a time when they are also looking under every rock to cut costs.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines have committed to being net-zero carbon by 2050, while Japan aims to commercialize domestically produced sustainable aviation fuels by 2030.
The United deal, which also covers options for 35 additional aircraft, envisages introduction of the first civil supersonic services on trans-Atlantic and Pacific routes by 2029.
Japan Airlines has revealed more detail on how it plans to prepare for the post-pandemic environment by strengthening its LCC portfolio while scaling back its widebody mainline fleet.
Australian regulators have issued a draft rejection of an application by Qantas and Japan Airlines to cooperate more closely, although Qantas says it will argue to have the decision reversed in the final ruling.
Japan Airlines (JAL) has advanced the retirement of its Boeing 777s in domestic configuration, phasing the aircraft out of its fleet a year earlier than expected.