Long-haul air connectivity with Japan grows thanks to cargo support

Major combination carriers IAG Cargo and Japan Airlines relaunched or expanded intercontinental service to or from Japan in late 2020 and early 2021, with the expectation that cargo demand will support the routes while passenger travel slowly ramps up, despite travel restrictions still in place. [caption id="attachment_93797" align="alignright" width="450"] Cargo loading of a British Airways aircraft. Photo Credit: Stuart Bailey / British Airways[/caption] The resumption of routes while passenger traffic is still well below 2019 levels should provide additional cargo capacity in a tight market, while also paving the way for a smooth return to more normal operations, carriers told Air Cargo World . The International Air Transport Association reported international revenue passenger kilometers were still down by 85.6% in January compared with January 2019, with the most significant declines reported among airlines based in the Asia-Pacific region. IAG Cargo restarted its service between London Heathrow (LHR) and Tokyo Haneda (HND) in October last year, with scheduled service operating three times per week. The service is historically a combination service with cargo carried in the lower hold, but during the remainder of IAG’s pandemic operations will be flexible if restrictions prevent passengers on the service, IAG Cargo’s head of sales Darren Peek told Air Cargo World . “If restrictions are such that from a passenger perspective it cannot operate, then we will convert to a cargo-only service because demand is such that we believe it to be sustainable,” Peek said. “The advantage of maintaining an operation to somewhere like Haneda is the process of reintroducing passenger services. There's already an operation and, should passenger services recommence, we have continuity of service.” See also: Transit activity buoys Osaka volume More recently, Japan Airlines resumed several routes connecting Japan and the U.S., including its nonstop trans-Pacific service connecting Tokyo Narita (NRT) and San Diego (SAN) in early March. The service was halted nearly a year earlier in April 2020 due to the pandemic, SAN announced in a press release. Prior to COVID, the service operated daily, but the relaunched schedule calls for operations three times weekly. JAL is also resuming service to several additional routes in North America during March, including to major cargo hubs such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and Seattle. JAL had previously ended its cargo-only operations in 2010, when it filed for bankruptcy, but like many combination carriers, focused on cargo sales from March 2020, as the airline’s passenger flights declined by 95% year over year, spokesman Mark Morimoto told Air Cargo World . “The flights we operate today are still passenger-based flights, but with the travel restrictions in place, some flights become a cargo-only flight by default,” Morimoto said.

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