joejones

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Air...-Japan-by-2020

• "AirAsia Group aims to fly to Los Angeles and San Francisco on the west coast of the U.S. by 2020 from its base in Southeast Asia via Japan"
• "The group will use some of the newly ordered Airbus A330neo widebody jets for the long-haul flights"
• "Nagoya is under consideration as the Japanese stopover hub, since the group's subsidiary is based there"

AlwaysAisle

Scoot already flies KIX-HNL so technically there is already LCC flying Japan - U.S. This by AirAsia will be first one for Japan - U.S. Mainland, unless JL beats to it where planning to start international LCC airline using 787-8 by 2020.

joejones

Also AirAsia X with the KUL-KIX-HNL route.

freecia

It would be nice to get some competition in SFO/SJC as the prices over the last few years have usually been $1,500-1,800 R/T in economy non-stop to TYO while LAX is probably closer to $800-900. It'd connect to NGO-DMK on AirAsia if the timings work out https://www.kayak.com/direct/NGO/2018-10 Going somewhere other than KIX as LCC might avoid adding to the KIX customs & immigration congestion, too. The KIX-HNL routes seem fairly popular for JP travelers and I could see NGO-LAX SJC,SFO,OAK working out for people around NGO to visit Mainland US.

There aren't many flight connections from NGO to TYO, though, and none to ITM/KIX? I'm not aware of a regional train passes that would include Nagoya station to Tokyo or Osaka via most direct route so it would be an additional 8,400-11,440 JPY one way train ticket or JR Pass on slower & less frequent trains. Or perhaps the highway bus for budget travelers. The Takayama Hokuriku pass might be a decent existing option for tourists https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2361_..._hokuriku.html. I'd probably head to FUK or a smaller regional airport but I tend to do that anyhow from HND.

AlwaysAisle

Over at Atlantic LCC from Europe, such as Norwegian Airlines, had effect on air fares across Atlantic past few years. I got JFK-LHR-HEL-JFK on OneWorld for less than US$500 and on return HEL-JFK on AY(Finnair) I was able to upgrade on this dirt cheap fare to business class for less than US$200.

Wonder if Asian LCC will have same effect on fares over Pacific. Fares on mainland U.S. – Japan has been increasing steadily past few years. On my last trip I did BOS-TYO(NRT/HND)-SIN-TYO(NRT/HND)-BOS because that was US$500 cheaper than straight BOS-NRT round trip.

ksandness

Earlier this summer, I went MSP>LAX>NRT>SFO>MSP because the open jaw trip on NH was cheaper than a roundtrip out of either LAX or SFO. Go figure.

Some competition on Pacific routes would be nice, and I wouldn't mind flying into NGO, having done it before, many years ago, when DL had its short-lived PDX>NGO flights, but I'd be concerned about sitting in an LCC for 10-12 hours.

joejones

Update: AirAsia X's CEO said a few days ago that they are considering KIX-SFO/LAX flights using A330neos:

https://www.aviationwire.jp/archives/166662

YVR Cockroach

Didn't even know Scoot flew to HNL. Looks like a decision was made in late November last year to axe service in June 2019 but that's been brought forward to May. Last flight that is bookable on the website is 7 May (coincidentally same day I'll be flying D7 KUL-KIX-HNL). Having flown ScootBiz on a 6 hr, I'd hate to fly a minute longer in those seats.

Not sure if AirAsiaX is going to be competitive as far as the Premium seats go. Lowest fares for KUL-HNL have been jacked up ~USD 760 OW to well over USD 1,100 OW (at least of a few months ago - I did a cursory check through end of schedule). At those prices, Chinese airline BC fares start getting interesting.