Monday, March 30, 2015

Jetstar Japan commences Nagoya – Okinawa.

On March 29th, Jetstar Japan [GK/JJP] inaugurated Nagoya/Chubu Centrair [NGO/RJGG] – Okinawa/Naha [OKA/ROAH] with a daily frequency operated by 180-seat Airbus A320s (Jetstar Japan to start Nagoya – Okinawa.). It became the 20th route for the Tokyo/Narita [NRT/RJAA]-headquartered LCC, while they are the first LCC to connect the two cities. Meanwhile, their twice-daily Chubu Centrair – Kumamoto [KMJ/RJFT] service (Jetstar Japan starts three routes from Kumamoto.) has been reduced to once daily.

Airbus A320-232(SL) JA06JJ departs Nagoya's Chubu Centrair on the inaugural flight to Naha in Okinawa. (Photo: Aviation Wire)

The first flight out of Chubu Centrair as GK381 departed Gate 7 at 1207 JST, 12 minutes behind schedule, carrying 169 passengers, including four children and infants. It was operated by A320-232(SL) JA06JJ. "Naha is a strong leisure-demand destination along with Sapporo, and the traveling public has been waiting for an LCC," said Hiroshi Kawakami, President of Central Japan International Airport, which operates Nagoya's global gateway.

Flight Schedule:
Chubu Centrair – Naha NEW 1 daily with A320-200. (2015/Mar/29 - Oct/24)
GK381 NGO 1155 – 1415 OKA 32A/320 Daily
GK382 OKA 1505 – 1715 NGO 32A/320 Daily

Naha becomes Jetstar Japan's fifth nonstop destination from Chubu Centrair after Fukuoka [FUK/RJFF], Kagoshima [KOJ/RJFK], Kumamoto, and Sapporo/New Chitose [CTS/RJCC]. Now that its second hub at Osaka/Kansai [KIX/RJBB] (Jetstar Japan launches Kansai hub.) has been set up, they are expected to develop a third hub at the airport serving the nation's third largest metropolitan region. AirAsia Japan (Mk II) is also expected to establish its main base at Chubu Centrair with flights to begin before the end of this year (New AirAsia Japan's first Airbus A320 due in July.).

The Chubu Centrair – Naha route sees competition from All Nippon Airways [NH/ANA] with twice-daily service, fellow Japan Airlines [JL/JAL]-affiliate Japan Transocean Air [NU/JTA] four times daily, Skymark Airlines [BC/SKY] daily, and Skynet Asia Airways [6J/SNJ] (d.b.a. Solaseed Air), which also launched the route on the same day as Jetstar Japan (Solaseed Air expands Okinawa with Ishigaki and Nagoya.), with a daily round-trip.

Source: Aviation Wire, March 29th. (in Japanese)
Source: Traicy, March 29th. (in Japanese)

*Edited/corrected on March 31st, 2015.

4 comments:

  1. Note that Naha is actually the 5th destination for Jetstar Japan out of Nagoya. They also fly to Kagoshima along with Fukuoka, Sapporo and Kumamoto. :-)

    It is also worth noting that the morning service to Kumamoto has been dropped and this new service to Naha is replacing it. So overall service out of Nagoya will remain the same with service to Kumamoto reduced from 2 daily to 1 daily.

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  2. Thank you so much for the correction and the additional insight. Are you located in Japan?

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    1. No I'm based in Australia and am a keen aviation observer.

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    2. You are very observant. Thanks again for letting me know.

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