Star Flyer launches Yamaguchi-Ube.

On October 26th, the beginning of the Winter 2014/2015 timetable, Star Flyer (7G/SFJ) launched three-times daily service to Yamaguchi-Ube (UBJ/RJDC) from Tokyo/Haneda (HND/RJTT) (Star Flyer to add Yamaguchi-Ube; but reduce Fukuoka.). 150-seat Airbus A320-200s operate the route, and all flights code-share with All Nippon Airways (NH/ANA), subsidiary of ANA Holdings, which owns 18% of the Kitakyushu (KKJ/RJFR)-based carrier.

Airbus A320-214(SL) JA21MC City of Kitakyushu taxies at Haneda. (Photo: Ryosuke Yano)

The inaugural flight, 7G011, operated by A320-214(SL) JA21MC, arrived at Yamaguchi-Ube at 0905 JST with a load of 128 passengers. It was greeted by a traditional water cannon salute upon arrival. The first return leg, flight 7G012, departed at 0947 carrying 148 passengers.

Flight Schedule (Oct/26/2014 - Mar/28/2015):
Haneda – Yamaguchi-Ube NEW 3 daily with A320-200.
7G011 HND 0720 – 0905 UBJ 32A/320 Daily
7G013 HND 1245 – 1430 UBJ 32A/320 Daily
7G015 HND 1750 – 19:35 UBJ 32A/320 Daily
7G012 UBJ 0945 – 1115 HND 32A/320 Daily
7G014 UBJ 1515 – 1645 HND 32A/320 Daily
7G016 UBJ 2010 – 2140 HND 32A/320 Daily

Star Flyer cut three of its 10 Haneda – Fukuoka (FUK/RJFF) round-trips to free up three slot-pairs at the heavily-regulated Tokyo airport for the new service. Along with the launch, they moved all but its flights to Kitakyushu to Haneda's Terminal 2 (used by ANA Group and partners). Meanwhile, ANA axed two of its five Haneda – Yamaguchi-Ube round-trips and put its code on all three of Star Flyer's new flights. So virtually, the launch is more of a transfer of another unprofitable route from ANA to the de facto subsidiary (New Star Flyer President is from ANA.), which has lower costs (but still far from low cost).

Between March 2012 and January 2013, ANA deployed Boeing 787s on the route in a bid to compete against JAL's four daily 737-800 round-trips. However, currently all flights are operated by 270-seat 767-300s and load factor for FY2013 was 53.2%, well below the company average of 61.6%. Meanwhile, Star Flyer was bleeding cash after dumping all of its five new Haneda slot-pairs that were awarded in March 2013 into the Fukuoka market, a high-demand link but also one of the most highly-contested. Passenger numbers went up but sparked a fare-war which hurt the all-important yield. ANA had wanted to reduce flying Haneda – Yamaguchi-Ube without receiving bad publicity, and Star Flyer's restructuring was seen as a perfect vehicle. 

Unfortunately, Star Flyer has joined the likes of AIRDO (HD/ADO) (d.b.a. Air Do) and Skynet Asia Airways (6J/SNJ) (d.b.a. Solaseed Air) in becoming merely a lower-cost feeder carrier for ANA, at least in terms of route network. Why will ANA not simply take over these carriers? All Haneda slots are controlled and allocated by Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB), and the unspoken rule is, if more than 20% of an airline that holds Haneda slots comes under control of another carrier, those slots must be relinquished for redistribution.

Reference: Aviation Wire, October 26th. (in Japanese)

ANA releases Winter 2014/2015 schedule.

On August 20th, All Nippon Airways (NH/ANA) released their Winter 2014/2015 timetable, effective October 26th. The only new route being announced is Tokyo/Haneda (HND/RJTT) – Nagoya/Chubu Centrair (NGO/RJGG) (ANA to resume Haneda – Nagoya in October.), timed to feed their expanded international network at Haneda (ANA's Summer 2014 international expansion.).

Boeing 767-381 JA602A in the Mohican Blue livery used by ANA from May 1969 until March 1989. It was revived as a retro-jet on December 1st, 2009, and completed operations in this special scheme on August 11th, 2014 with NH638, service from Iwakuni to Haneda. It will revert to the current Triton Blue livery. (Photo: Luke H. Ozawa/ANA)

For domestic, other changes include frequency increases from Haneda to Ishigaki (ISG/ROIG), Okayama (OKJ/RJOB), and Okinawa/Naha (OKA/ROAH), and from Fukuoka (FUK/RJFF) to Osaka/Itami (ITM/RJOO) and Naha. Meanwhile, reductions include the Haneda – Yamaguchi-Ube (UBJ/RJDC) route (Star Flyer to add Yamaguchi-Ube; but reduce Fukuoka.), with capacity de facto transferred to partly-owned subsidiary Star Flyer (7G/SFJ) to free up some of ANA's Haneda slots.

New Routes/Resumptions (DOMESTIC):
Haneda – Chubu Centrair NEW 1 daily with 737-800.
NH85 HND 1825 – 1930 NGO 73H Daily *From Oct/26.
NH86 NGO 0750 – 0850 HND 73H Daily *From Oct/26.

Frequency Increases (DOMESTIC): 
Fukuoka – Naha from 8 to 9 daily.
Itami – Fukuoka from 5 to 7 daily.
Haneda – Ishigaki from 1 to 2 daily. *From Feb/1.
Haneda – Okayama from 5 to 6 daily.
Haneda – Naha from 10 to 11 daily.

Frequency Reductions (DOMESTIC):
Itami – Naha from 3 to 2 daily.
Itami – New Chitose from 4 to 3 daily. 
Sendai – New Chitose from 4 to 3 daily.
Haneda – Yamaguchi-Ube from 5 to 3 daily.

For international, there's not much change, with the Tokyo/Narita (NRT/RJAA) – Chengdu (CTU/ZUUU) route seeing a reduction, except for the Chinese New Year period. However, there are equipment swaps between Boeing 767s, 787s, and 777s for regional Asian routes. Popular Taiwan will see all Haneda – Taipei/Songshan (TSA/RCSS) flights operating with the larger 787-8, while Haneda – Manila (MNL/RPLL) will be downsized to 767-300ERs. Haneda – Seoul/Gimpo (GMP/RKSS) will see 14 weekly round-trips being downsized to the 787-8 from the 777-200ER, while Haneda – Shanghai/Pudong (PVG/ZSPD) will see half of its 14 weekly round-trips up-gauged from the 787-8 to the 777-200ER.

Frequency Reductions (INTERNATIONAL):
Narita – Chengdu from 7 to 4 weekly. *7 weekly Feb/13 - 28.

ANA says they will continue to strengthen their Tokyo dual hubs at Haneda and Narita. Japan's largest carrier wants to capture Asia – North America connections at Narita, while Haneda will pursue the Tokyo/domestic – international market.

Reference: All Nippon Airways, August 20th. (in Japanese)

Star Flyer to add Yamaguchi-Ube; but reduce Fukuoka.

On July 23rd, Star Flyer (7G/SFJ) officially announced that their new Tokyo/Haneda (HND/RJTT) – Yamaguchi-Ube (UBJ/RJDC) service would be inaugurated on October 26th, the beginning of the Winter 2014/2015 timetable, as previously rumored (Star Flyer to start Yamaguchi-Ube in October.). 150-seat Airbus A320s will operate the route.

Airbus A320-214 JA08MC Heart of Kitakyushu arrives at the airline's home base. (Photo: Aviation Wire)

The Kitakyushu (KKJ/RJFR)-based airline will cut three of its 10 current Haneda – Fukuoka (FUK/RJFF) round-trips to free up three slot-pairs at heavily-regulated Haneda, and will use all three for the new link to Yamaguchi-Ube. Along with the launch, Star Flyer will move all but its flights to Kitakyushu to Haneda's Terminal 2 (used by ANA Group). Last spring, it erred in dumping all of its five newly-awarded Haneda slot-pairs into the Fukuoka market, a high-demand link but also one of the most highly-contested, bringing passenger numbers up but lowering prices and hurting the all-important yield.

Meanwhile, All Nippon Airways (NH/ANA), subsidiary of ANA Holdings, which also owns 18% (and de facto parent) of Star Flyer, will axe two of its five Haneda – Yamaguchi-Ube round-trips and instead code-share on all three of Star Flyer's new flights. ANA is rumored to allocate at least one of the freed-up slot-pairs to launch Haneda –Nagoya/Chubu Centrair (NGO/RJGG), a short hop aimed at feeding its expanded Haneda international network (ANA's Summer 2014 international expansion.) from Nagoya.

Between March 2012 and January 2013, ANA deployed Boeing 787s on the Haneda – Yamaguchi-Ube route in a bid to compete against JAL's four daily round-trips operated by 737-800s and lure travelers. However, now all flights are operated by 270-seat 767-300s and load factors for FY2013 showed 53.2%, well below the company average of 61.6%. ANA had wanted to reduce flying the route without receiving bad publicity, and Star Flyer's restructuring was seen as a perfect vehicle.

Star Flyer has sadly joined the likes of AIRDO (HD/ADO) (d.b.a. Air Do) and Skynet Asia Airways (6J/SNJ) (d.b.a. Solaseed Air) in becoming merely a lower-cost feeder carrier for ANA. Why will ANA not simply take over these carriers? The biggest probable reason behind it is that if they are merged into ANA, they would likely be forced to relinquish some of the precious Haneda slots.

Reference: Star Flyer, July 23rd. (PDF; in Japanese)
Reference: Star Flyer, July 23rd. (PDF; in Japanese)
Reference: Aviation Wire, July 23rd. (in Japanese)

Star Flyer to start Yamaguchi-Ube in October.

Star Flyer (7G/SFJ), which is undergoing management change and restructuring (Star Flyer's President Shinichi Yonehara to step down.) after posting a whopping 3 billion JPY loss for fiscal year 2013, will reportedly launch Tokyo/Haneda (HND/RJTT) – Yamaguchi-Ube (UBJ/RJDC) from the Winter 2014/2015 schedule starting on October 26th.

Airbus A320-214 JA04MC City of Kitakyushu taxies at rainy Haneda. Delivered in 2007, it will be returned to the lessor this year, reducing the fleet to nine. (Photo: Ryosuke Yano)

Since the Kitakyushu (KKJ/RJFR)-based airline's total number of prized Haneda slots will remain at 27 slot-pairs, two of 10 round-trips between Haneda and Fukuoka (FUK/RJFF) and one of the dozen connecting the capital with Kitakyushu is expected to be suspended to provide room for the three new flight pairs. The other five slot-pairs are currently used for their Osaka/Kansai (KIX/RJBB) service.

However, Sadami Matsuishi, the new President to be sworn in on June 25th (New Star Flyer President is from ANA.), had repeatedly emphasized to Kitakyushu's business community that the airline's hometown would not see cuts, so if local criticism turns out to be strong, Fukuoka could see a third flight cut instead of Kitakyushu. Mr. Matsuishi is a veteran of All Nippon Airways (NH/ANA), a wholly owned subsidiary of ANA Holdings, which controls roughly 18% of Star Flyer's shares. His most recent position has been Chief of Department for Risk Management at IBEX Airlines (FW/IBX).

Meanwhile, ANA plans to code-share with Star Flyer on all three new flights and instead reduce flying their own metal on three of their five daily round-trips. This effectively frees up three of ANA's slot-pairs at Haneda, which sparks speculation about where ANA plans to use these precious slots to. The code-share allows Star Flyer to have a stable income from the now de facto parent while for ANA it could transfer second-tier routes to a (slightly) lower-cost partner and free-up Haneda slots at the same time. Operating under a similar scheme are Star Flyer's three Nagoya/Chubu Centrair (NGO/RJGG) – Fukuoka (FUK/RJFF) round-trips (Star Flyer to add ANA's code on all flights.), launched on March 30th, which replaced three of ANA's.

Now in its eighth year of service, Star Flyer's heavy losses not only stem from high costs (Cost of Available Seat-Kilometer, or CASK, was 11.8 JPY for FY2011), a depreciated JPY (same as everyone else), and LCC competition, but also from critical strategy errors. Last spring, it dumped all of its five new slot-pairs awarded at Haneda on the Fukuoka route, a high-demand link but also one of the most highly-contested. Load factors went up, but prices went down and hurt the all-important yield.

Star Flyer initially touted (and still does) itself as an affordable high-quality domestic airline, boasting Airbus A320s with only 150 seats, providing audio visual on-demand (AVOD) at every seat (the only domestic airline to do so), as well as serving Tully's-branded coffee accompanied by chocolate for free. However, with heavy losses and ANA's increased involvement, it is becoming merely another pawn of ANA, joining the likes of AIRDO (HD/ADO) (d.b.a. Air Do), IBEX Airlines, and Skynet Asia Airways (6J/SNJ) (d.b.a. Solaseed Air).

Source: Mainichi Shimbun, June 13th. (in Japanese)