Japan Airlines plans for future: more regional & long-haul flights as LCCs swallow short-haul market

Japan Airlines (JAL) emerged from bankruptcy last year with a new lease on life, realising - although it was never in danger of absolute collapse - little is sacred and that the status quo cannot always continue, a radical change of thought in entrenched corporate Japan. This new thinking is evident in the carrier's medium-term business plan from 2012 though 2016 which seeks to address the significant structural change that will start to occur later this year as low-cost carriers rapidly increase in the domestic market and expand on regional services.

While passengers and Japan as a whole will benefit from lower cost travel, that growth will be at the expense of Japan's incumbent full-service carriers. JAL is smartly preparing to de-emphasise its mainline domestic market, which will be most exposed to LCCs, and concentrate on two areas LCCs will not reach in full force in the medium term: domestic regional flights and long-haul markets. In 2016 JAL plans to operate 13% more available seat kilometres (ASKs) than in 2011, with all growth in international markets; JAL's domestic network will shrink.