Japan gets a dose of Ryanair-style traveling on three new low-cost airlines
Skift Take
While JAL was busy collapsing, getting a bailout, and then prepping for a multi-billion IPO, budget carriers were slowly insinuating themselves into the market and letting consumers know they didn't need to spend big to go far.
Japan has a reputation for loving expensive things like overpriced real estate, gourmet melons and luxury brands. But the nation is finally discovering the joy of flying cheap, with the arrival this year of three low-cost carriers.
The takeoff of AirAsia Japan, Peach Aviation and Jetstar Japan could change lifestyles. No longer will air travel be mostly confined to business trips and fancy once-in-a-lifetime vacations to places such as Hawaii.
Flying is suddenly growing more casual, including for weekend dining, visits with friends, even day trips. Ticket prices are plunging by about half, to 16,000 yen ($200) trips to the southwestern resort island of Okinawa or a 5,000 yen ($60) hop to Seoul.
[caption id="attachment_26769" align="alignright" width="700"] A passenger buys a meal during the first flight by Peach Aviation from Osaka, western Japan, bound for Sapporo, northern Japan. Photo by AP Photo/Kyodo News.[/caption]
The airlines are not only out to woo Japanese away from regular leisure activities such as going to Disneyland or watching a movie. They are also out to convince the notoriously workaholic Japanese not to work so hard.
They may revitalize Japan's 3 trillion yen ($38 billion) aviation market — already the world's third largest, comprising about 5.5 percent of global traffic and 11 pe
