Japan's LCC penetration rate to reach 50% within five years: Venture Republic CEO

Venture Republic CEO and co-founder Kei Shibata, speaking at CAPA's LCCs & New Age Airlines in North Asia conference in Macau, predicted (05-Sep-2012) the LCC penetration rate in Japan will reach 50% within five years. At below 10%, Japan currently has one of the lowest LCC penetration rates in the world but the market has seen this year the start of what Mr Shibata sees as a long overdue revolution with the launch of three LCCs - Peach, Jetstar Japan and AirAsia Japan. "We have been suffering the last two decades but finally we see some light at the end of the long tunnel," Mr Shibata said, adding, "It's definitely changing peoples behaviour". Venture Republic owns and runs Japan's leading online travel search engine Travel.jp.