ANA's low-cost carrier spreads its wings to BKK

[reader]

From The Thaiger

Air Japan today announced plans to target Thai passengers by offering a direct flight from Bangkok to Tokyo next year.

The president of Air Japan, Minekuji Hideki, revealed to the media that Air Japan is a new low-cost airline under ANA Holdings, which will provide the airline’s first flight from Narita International Airport in Tokyo to Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

The airline president disclosed that the first flight will take off on February 10, 2024. The Japanese airline plans to operate the flight with a Boeing 784-9, which can serve 324 passengers. The flight will be available only in economy class.

According to Minekuji, the route will be available six times a week in the initial stage of the operation. The airline plans to add one more flight a week within the year.

Furthermore, the airline also considered offering direct flights from Bangkok to the Kansai region and from other countries in Southeast Asia to Japan within the first three years of operation.

Minekuji anticipates that 70% of passengers would be Thais and predicted that 30% would likely be female Japanese passengers. He added that Japanese women loved travelling in Thailand.

Minekuji says the airline is targeting Thai travellers after Japanese reluctance to travel abroad due to the depreciation in the currency, the yen. Moreover, the younger generation is not interested in travelling abroad or applying for a passport.

Minekuji also expressed confidence in the growth of low-cost airlines and believes that Air Japan has the potential to compete in the market. He emphasised that the highlights of Air Japan are attentiveness, delicacy, in-flight meals of Japanese style and quality, comfortable passenger seats, the availability of phone chargers, and free Wi-Fi.

According to a report on Gorgeous Bangkok, fares for the Bangkok-Tokyo flight will start at 4,350 baht per trip.

 

[PeterRS]

Two interesting points from that article. First that the "younger generation is not interested in travelling abroad or applying for a passport." I find that almost impossible to believe. Walk around Honolulu and amost everyone is a young Japanese. And every younger Japanese I meet always wants to visit parts of Europe.

Secondly, it does not mention flight departure times. If it is like many low cost carriers (and some of the full service carriers on the Japan routes), at least one leg will be overnight. Maybe OK for those elusive younger passengers, but I for one will not fly on a 6 to 7.5 hour overnight flight, even with that low price. I'll happily pay more for the JAL daytime economy tickets.

[vinapu]

12 hours ago, PeterRS said:

 I for one will not fly on a 6 to 7.5 hour overnight flight, even with that low price..

thank you , it means seat beside me will be free to  allow for more elbow space.

[reader]

Many advantages of red eye flight.

(1) You get to nap on board because most other passengers will be doing same.

(2) You save the cost of first night hotel stay, arriving in time for breakfast.*

(3) And LLC fare is substantially less

* Same reason overnight trains are so popular in Europe.

[vinapu]

52 minutes ago, reader said:

 

(2) You save the cost of first night hotel stay, arriving in time for breakfast.*

 

when comes to me and Thai trips it doesn't work. If I arrive in the morning I want to have an access to shower and room right away instead of risking to wait till 2-3 pm so usually book room in some economical hotel like Nantra Silom for the night before and then move to something upscale like Baan Silom etc. for following night or next day

The same for those flights departing  late evening or just past midnight - I book room for that night as well for the same reason

[dscrtsldnbi]

On 8/26/2023 at 8:13 PM, vinapu said:

when comes to me and Thai trips it doesn't work. If I arrive in the morning I want to have an access to shower and room right away instead of risking to wait till 2-3 pm so usually book room in some economical hotel like Nantra Silom for the night before and then move to something upscale like Baan Silom etc. for following night or next day

The same for those flights departing  late evening or just past midnight - I book room for that night as well for the same reason

I very much agree and I always follow the same policy (more or less). I am lucky to be a Marriott's Platinum for life member, which saves the hassle and quite a bit of money too: I can request (and in 99.9999% of cases, I get what I've requested) a free early check-in (as early as 8am) and a late check-out (as late as 9pm). Having the pain of waiting for hours to get checked-in at noon or being kicked out at 3pm when you have a midnight flight is absolutely unbearable, especially if you face a 10h flight ahead or have just finished one.

[vinapu]

41 minutes ago, dscrtsldnbi said:

 when you have a midnight flight is absolutely unbearable, especially if you face a 10h flight ahead 

10 hours! That's commuter flight for some of us. 

[dscrtsldnbi]

1 hour ago, vinapu said:

10 hours! That's commuter flight for some of us. 

I know what you mean. For me, a flight to Bali will be more like a 23h flight (6-7h London to Doha, then 10-11h from Doha to Denpasar with a 3h transfer in Doha). I was trying to be generous.