AirAsia Japan Returns with a Nagoya – Sapporo Route Starting on October 29, 2017

About a week ago, Tony Fernandes – the CEO of AirAsia – tweeted the following:

Given that the launch of the new AirAsia Japan has been pushed back numerous times, I didn’t pay much attention to it. However, it seems like this time the news is real and AirAsia Japan will operate its first scheduled flight – from Nagoya Centrair to Sapporo New Chitose – on October 29, 2017.

AirAsia Japan Starts with the Nagoya Centrair to Sapporo Route

To begin with, AirAsia Japan will launch a domestic route between Nagoya Centrair and Sapporo New Chitose. The route will operate twice daily starting on October 29, 2017, with the following schedule:

  • DJ01 departing Nagoya at 7:35AM and arriving in Sapporo at 9:25AM
  • DJ02 departing Sapporo at 10:00AM and arriving in Nagoya at 12:05PM
  • DJ09 departing Nagoya at 5:10PM and arriving in Sapporo at 7:00PM
  • DJ10 departing Sapporo at 7:35PM and arriving in Nagoya at 9:40PM

With just four short flights a day, AirAsia Japan’s fleet of two A320s will be underutilized. As such, I am curious to see when the airline launches new routes and what destinations it will go with.

AirAsia Japan Fleet

Not the First AirAsia Japan

While October 29, 2017, will mark the launch of AirAsia Japan, it will not be the first AirAsia Japan.

The first AirAsia Japan was established in 2011 as a joint venture between AirAsia and ANA. The airline was based at Tokyo Narita airport and developed a network of domestic flights and flights to Korea.

Original AirAsia Japan

However, in June 2013, AirAsia decided to exit the joint venture, and AirAsia Japan became a fully owned subsidiary of ANA. The airline continued operating as AirAsia Japan until October 26, 2013.

Then, it stopped operations for several weeks before restarting operations as Vanilla Air on December 20, 2013. Today, Vanilla Air operates a fleet of 13 A320 aircraft on domestic and regional routes.

Vanilla Air

Not even a year after its exit, in July 2014, AirAsia announced that it would be returning to the Japanese market. This time, as a joint venture with non-airline partners including Rakuten, Noevir Holdings, Alpen, and Octave Japan.

Originally intended to start operations in summer of 2015. However, after several delays, it will not be until the end of this month that the airline will finally commence operations.

The 5 Yen Sale to Launch the Route

To celebrate the commencement of operations, AirAsia Japan will offer 5 yen fares (excl. taxes) when it will open reservations at midnight tonight. The reason for doing so – at least based on AirAsia’s PR – is to create relationship (ご縁, read go-en, the same way as 5 yen in Japanese) with the people of Nagoya as the first airline to be based in the city.

While I am not living in Nagoya, I still hope to grab one of the 5 yen (go-en) fares for the first flight on the morning of October 29, 2017. If I manage to do so, I will make sure to report back on the flight!

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