Spring Japan considering Chongqing and Wuhan.

Spring Airlines Japan [IJ/SJO] is planning to launch international flights to China from Spring 2015, according to Wang Wei, Chairman of the airline, in an interview carried out by Kyodo Press. Four Chinese destinations are currently being considered by the fledgling Tokyo/Narita [NRT/RJAA]-based LCC for next year, including Chongqing [CKG/ZUCK] and Wuhan [WUH/ZHHH].

Boeing 737-86N(WL) JA02GR arrives back at the airline's Narita hub. (Photo: Ryosuke Yano)

"There's a huge yet-to-be-tapped market from China to Japan," said Mr. Wang, who added "Japan is the most tourism resource-rich neighbor, but China's number of visitors to Japan is still below (South) Korea." Mr. Wang also revealed that they intend to open around 10 Chinese routes from their hub at Narita in the coming years, with eyes especially on secondary Chinese cities not facing the sea. The current fleet of three 189-seat Boeing 737-800s will be expanded to 20 by the end of 2017.

Spring Airlines Japan only began flying this August initially with domestic routes (Spring Airlines Japan commences operations.) linking Narita with Hiroshima [HIJ/RJOA], Saga [HSG/RJFS], and Takamatsu [TAK/RJOT]. It is the Japanese unit of China's largest LCC Spring Airlines [9C/CQH], which already operates to the big cities of Osaka/Kansai [KIX/RJBB] and Sapporo/New Chitose [CTS/RJCC], as well as the secondary destinations of Ibaraki [IBR/RJAF], Saga, and Takamatsu.

Reference: Oita Godo Shimbun, November 8th. (in Japanese)

Spring Japan eyes Sapporo and China in 2015.

Spring Airlines Japan's (IJ/SJO) Chairman Wang Wei revealed that the fledgling Tokyo/Narita (NRT/RJAA)-based LCC is planning two to four international routes to China in 2015, in an interview by Traicy. For domestic, Sapporo/New Chitose (CTS/RJCC) is the next city being considered, to connect with Spring Airlines' (9C/CQH) link from Shanghai/Pudong (PVG/ZSPD) to the capital of Hokkaido, which will be launched on October 26th, 2014.

Spring Airlines Japan's first aircraft Boeing 737-81D(WL) N272LM/JA01GR at King County 'Boeing Field'. It is leased from AWAS. (Photo: Rick Schlamp/AirlinersGallery.com)

Regarding the recent decision to cut Narita – Saga (HSG/RJFS) to a single round-trip (Spring Japan reduces schedule for Winter 2014/2015.), the airline told that from Winter 2014/2015, Narita only allowed for a slot that would make an arrival into Saga within 10 minutes of an All Nippon Airways (NH/ANA) flight from Tokyo/Haneda (HND/RJTT) and a departure time within 20 minutes of ANA's return leg. Saga is equipped with one jet-bridge each for domestic and international, and thus only has one security check-point and one waiting area per jet-bridge, and the airport authorities deemed it difficult to handle two Tokyo-area-bound flights at the same time.

Mr. Wang reiterates that they would like to bring the Saga service back to two flights as soon as they can get favorable slot times. For August, the route saw a load factor of 60.1%, which Mr. Wang views as "not bad for a young airline like us," though he admits that "We need to become better known and increase our load factors." Meanwhile, reliability also has to be worked on, as from August 1st through September 21st, Spring Airlines Japan's Saga route saw seven cancellations and a dozen delays of over one hour, while ANA's link to Haneda saw zero cancellations and nine delays, even with five daily round-trips, which is three more than Spring.

For the time being when only two Boeing 737-800s are needed to run the entire schedule, their third will be used as back-up equipment and for crew training. "We have no problem as our plan for winter only called for two airplanes in the first place," said Mr. Wang. Spring Airlines Japan is the Japanese unit of China's first LCC, and only began operations on August 1st (Spring Airlines Japan commences operations.).

Reference: Saga Shimbun, September 26th. (in Japanese)
Reference: Traicy, September 28th. (in Japanese)

Spring Airlines Japan commences operations.

Spring Airlines Japan (IJ/SJO) launched operations on August 1st, linking Tokyo/Narita (NRT/RJAA) with Hiroshima (HIJ/RJOA), Saga (HSG/RJFS), and Takamatsu (TAK/RJOT) using 189-seat Boeing 737-800s. The former two destinations are served twice daily, while the latter is served once daily. They become the fourth LCC to be launched in Japan, but the first of its kind that is not affiliated with an existing Japanese carrier.

Boeing 737-86N(WL) JA02GR takes off for Saga on the inaugural day. (Photo: Aviation Wire)

The inaugural flight, IJ621, departed Narita on-time at 0655 JST with 148 passengers (load factor 78.3%) and took off at 0714, arriving at Hiroshima at 0831. It was operated by 737-81D(WL) JA01GR. Their second flight, IJ601, service from Narita to Saga, was operated by 737-86N(WL) JA02GR. For the first day, flights operated with two pilots and five cabin attendants, instead of the usual four.
 
Flight Schedule (Aug/1 – Oct/25/2014):
Narita – Hiroshima NEW 2 daily with 737-800.
IJ621 NRT 0655 – 0835 HIJ 73H Daily
IJ623 NRT 1625 – 1805 HIJ 73H Daily
IJ622 HIJ 0920 – 1050 NRT 73H Daily
IJ624 HIJ 1850 – 2020 NRT 73H Daily

Narita – Saga NEW 2 daily with 737-800.
IJ601 NRT 1055 – 1255 HSG 73H Daily
IJ603 NRT 1655 – 1855 HSG 73H Daily
IJ602 HSG 1340 – 1525 NRT 73H Daily
IJ604 HSG 1940 – 2125 NRT 73H Daily

Narita – Takamatsu NEW 1 daily with 737-800.
IJ613 NRT 1150 – 1315 TAK 73H Daily
IJ614 TAK 1410 – 1525 NRT 73H Daily

The ribbon-cutting ceremony at Narita was attended by officials from the destination prefectures, Narita Airport, and the airline including Representative Director Hiroshi Ukai, Executive Director Minoru Uchida, Chairman Wang Wei, and Wang Zhenghua, Chairman of Spring Airlines. (Photo: Spring Airlines Japan)

From Narita, fares to Hiroshima start at 5,690 JPY, to Saga from 5,700 JPY, and to Takamatsu from 5,630 JPY. Its highest fare for each route has been set at around 25,000 JPY, but the airline says that price is "for government paperwork purposes," and in reality they have no intention to offer that fare. Competitor Jetstar Japan (GK/JJP) already serves the Narita – Takamatsu market twice daily offering fares as low as 3,990 JPY, but Spring Airlines Group Chairman Wang Zhenghua emphasizes they "don't want to get into a fare war."

Spring Airlines Japan is the Japanese unit of China's largest LCC Spring Airlines (9C/CQH). Japanese largest travel agency JTB also holds a minority interest. Flights were originally planned for May, however, paperwork delays and crew training taking more time forced them to postpone their launch twice (Spring Airlines Japan delays launch to August 1st.).

Spring Airlines Japan flies their Boeing 737-800s in a 189-seat layout. (Photo: Aviation Wire)

Unlike its Chinese parent, which flies 42 Airbus A320s, Japan's newest LCC opted for the 737, taking advantage of Japan's historical relationship with Boeing and hence the larger population of Japanese aviation professionals working with American-assembled airplanes. Shortage of Airbus-rated pilots in Japan have caused massive travel disruptions at competitors Peach Aviation (MM/APJ) (Peach outlines Summer 2014 mass cancellations.) and Vanilla Air (JW/VNL) (Vanilla Air cancels 154 flights in June due to pilot shortage.).

Spring Airlines Japan will add five aircraft each year from 2015 onwards, targeting to reach a fleet of 20 sometime in 2017. It is reportedly considering adding its fourth domestic destination early next year.

Reference: Spring Airlines Japan @ Facebook. (in Japanese)
Reference: Aviation Wire, August 1st. (in Japanese)
Reference: Traicy, August 1st. (in Japanese)