Chubu airport trying to draw more transit passengers
February 1, 2006About one year after opening as Japan's third major international gateway, Centrair International Airport near Nagoya will try to draw more transit passengers from Japanese cities as well as abroad, its operator said Wednesday. Yukihisa Hirano, president of the airport operator Central Japan International Airport Co., said at a press conference in Tokyo, ''We will devise a strategy to lure more tourists from the countryside, for example, by creating package tours together with local travel agencies.''
Duty-free shopping mall to open at Narita airport
February 1, 2006Narita International Airport Corp. said Thursday it will open a 3,500 square-meter duty-free shopping mall, one of Japan's largest, at the airport in Chiba Prefecture in June. The shopping mall with 10 designer brand shops and eight general line shops featuring cosmetics and liquor will be set up at the departure area in the south wing of Terminal 1, which is being renovated. The mall eyes annual sales of 12 billion yen, the company said.
Narita airport sees record number of flights, passengers in 2005
February 1, 2006Narita International Airport, Japan's largest international gateway, handled its largest number of flights and its biggest passenger volume in 2005, the airport operator announced Thursday. The airport, serving the greater Tokyo area, handled around 188,300 flight departures and arrivals, up 2 percent from 2004, and 31.55 million passengers, up 1 percent, Narita International Airport Corp. said.
Skynet, ANA to jointly operate 36 flights under code-sharing deal
February 1, 2006Skynet Asia Airways Co. said Thursday the struggling airline and All Nippon Airways Co. will start operating April 1 a total of 36 flights under a code-sharing arrangement. The deal will be applied to Skynet's existing flights linking Tokyo's Haneda airport with three destinations on Japan's main southern island of Kyushu -- Nagasaki, Miyazaki and Kumamoto.
Air New Zealand to end flights between Nagoya, Auckland on March 25
February 1, 2006Air New Zealand said Tuesday it will end flights between Auckland and Nagoya on March 25 in response to the low profitability of the flights. The jet fuel price hike stemming from high crude oil prices, a weak yen and the decreasing number of tourists to New Zealand are behind the company's decision, it said.