Air Travel Bookings for Japan’s “Golden Week” Holiday Robust

Tokyo, April 30 (Jiji Press)–Travel bookings for Japan’s Golden Week holiday period are still strong, defying concerns over high prices and the Middle East situation. But uncertainty surrounds the industry over travel demand in summer and later as fuel surcharges added to international fares are set to jump due to higher air fuel prices. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways reported year-on-year growth in reservations for both domestic and international flights for the eight-day period ending on Wednesday. At the JAL group, bookings for international flights climbed 3.3 pct from the same period last year to total 169,302, led by growth in demand for travel to North America and the Pacific islands of Hawaii and Guam. ANA said its international flight bookings jumped 18.4 pct to 210,871. Especially popular are destinations in other Asian countries and the Oceanian region. The JAL group marked an 8.0 pct increase in domestic flight bookings, with those of ANA increasing 18.5 pct. Meanwhile, the two airlines decided to raise their fuel surcharges from May, one month ahead of schedule, because the benchmark Singapore kerosene price has more than doubled since the Middle East conflict started with U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran at the end of February. As for travel from Japan to North America and Europe, the JAL group decided to raise its surcharge on flights whose tickets will be issued in May by 93 pct from the previous month to 56,000 yen. Those of ANA are set to climb 76 pct to 56,000 yen. Similar measures have also been taken by foreign airlines. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways will hike its fuel surcharge on flights from Japan to Hong Kong and Taipei to 14,500 yen, more than double the previous level. The change applies to flights whose tickets will be issued in May. If the Middle East conflict is prolonged, fuel surcharges are likely to remain high. “Rises in overall travel costs will continue to give a certain level of impact,” an official of Japanese travel agency JTB Corp. said. Although the company does not project a drastic decrease in travel demand itself, some travelers are expected to consider alternative destinations and travel plans, the official said. “There’ll be no small impact in summer and after,” another industry source said. As families of three or four typically limit their overseas travel budgets to 1 million yen, some may switch from foreign to domestic travel or anbandon their travel plans altogether, according to the source. “The impact will be big,” the source added. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]