Jetstar Japan settles in for the long term as AirAsia's departure eases domestic market competition

Jetstar Japan has secured its position as the largest of the low-cost carriers that launched in Japan in 2012. But this size has come at a price. Jetstar Japan perhaps under-estimated the limitations posed by its home base Tokyo Narita's curfew.

While Jetstar Japan's punctuality has been in line with global averages, Japanese legacy carriers have created expectations in the market with extraordinarily high on-time performance and low cancellation rates. While that makes ANA and JAL super reliable, it also inflates their cost base. But the market, in an all too typical tale, has demanded the the same reliability but with the lower fares. Another growing pain was issues over safety procedures, leading it to voluntarily put a hold on growth.

But now Jetstar Japan has adjusted to its market and is looking forward, as CEO Miyuki Suzuki told CAPA's recent LCCs and New Age Airlines Summit in Seoul. An Osaka Kansai base and international operations have been put on hold. Jetstar Japan has been handed a considerable opportunity by the situation at AirAsia Japan, also based at Narita. AirAsia Japan will suspend operations in Nov-2013 and re-launch in Dec-2013 as Vanilla Air, bringing to ANA not just a new name but new strategy as Vanilla, like half-sister Peach Aviation, places more emphasis on international flights than on domestic. That leaves the new LCC domestic market to Jetstar Japan. Its next competitor, Skymark, will be distracted in 2014 as it takes A330s and A380s, moving away from being an LCC to more of a hybrid operation.