Originally Posted by
bocastephen
NRT TPE was a key route for Air Japan but it was ceded to BR to operate as a codeshare. I think they will put SIN back under NH, with HKG but outside of BKK I’m not seeing where the new LCC will fit in given almost every Asia destination from Tokyo is a business market except for BKK, and UA already ceded its own intra Asia routes to NH to operate. I just see a very limited market for the LCC Air Japan to operate routes exclusively from Tokyo and if more routes were added, would it violate the JV with United?
Look at what JAL is doing with Zipair. They operate routes that JAL mainline does as well, SFO, LAX, HNL, MNL, BKK, SIN. But also ICN and SJC where JAL does not fly. None of the Zipair flights carry a JAL code, and the loads are actually pretty good. The introduction of Zipair on routes where JAL also fly has not resulted in a reduction of frequencies.
When AirJapan launches their LCC, everything indicates that it will be like Zipair, additional flights to capture a different market segment on those routes, and no NH codes on the LCC flights. Accordingly no UA codes on these flights either.
The mainline flights currently operated on behalf of ANA with ANA codes, and potentially some UA codes will in my best guess continue to be operated by Air Japan. And yes, ANA does need to find a good way to make that clear to passengers. And I wish them luck with that, as that is not easy.