AirAsia Japan
AirAsia Japan Co., Ltd is the name of two incarnations of Japanese low-cost airline, operating as a joint venture between AirAsia of Malaysia and Japanese partners.
History
The director of AirAsia Tony Fernandes dubbed the two incarnations of AirAsia Japan as "Part 1" and "Part 2"."Part 1": Joint-venture with All Nippon Airways (August 2012 – October 2013)
Malaysian low-cost airline AirAsia and Japanese network airline All Nippon Airways announced their joint venture at a press conference in Tokyo on 21 July 2011. Following its formal establishment in August 2011, the first flight for the airline was on 1 August 2012, from Tokyo Narita to Fukuoka.The airline was headquartered alongside ANA in Tokyo, with its main operating base at Narita International Airport, and initially served domestic destinations utilising the brand and service model of AirAsia. Future planned international destinations included the Philippines, South Korea and Taiwan. AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes also indicated that the joint venture hub at Narita may serve as a connecting point between Southeast Asia and the United States within the AirAsia group network.
AirAsia Japan was the first low-cost airline to be based at Narita. Its formation was announced only months after ANA had announced the formation of Peach, a low-cost airline based at Kansai International Airport in Osaka, and alongside a concurrent effort by Japan Airlines to set up a low-cost affiliate. ANA elected to partner with an existing low-cost airline for efficiency and strategic advantage.
Termination of joint venture and re-branding as Vanilla Air
In June 2013, AirAsia decided to exit its investment in AirAsia Japan, making the company a wholly owned subsidiary of ANA. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported that AirAsia Japan had the lowest load factors of the three new entrant low-cost carriers in Japan and noted several reasons for the failure of the joint venture, including an online booking system that was not fully translated into Japanese and was therefore frustrating to many domestic customers, failure to utilise travel agent distribution, the inconvenience of its main hub at Narita Airport, and the airport's severe restrictions on early morning and late night flights.AirAsia Japan announced in August 2013 that it would continue operation under its current branding through 26 October 2013 and would then be rebranded as Vanilla Air effective 1 November 2013. Vanilla Air would start operations with two aircraft and expand to ten aircraft by fiscal year 2015, with both domestic and international routes. All of AirAsia Japan's staff were to be inherited by Vanilla Air, and the airline would focus on serving resort destinations, eventually expanding to longer routes after an initial focus on short-haul routes. AirAsia Japan aircraft were to be returned to AirAsia, with Vanilla Air to start with a fleet of only two aircraft.
AirAsia announced that it would start a new joint venture operation in Japan at a later date with a different partner, but the Nikkei reported that this seemed unlikely given foreign ownership restrictions and the fact that the only seasoned Japanese airline operators outside of the ANA group are Japan Airlines, which had already invested in the Jetstar Japan joint venture, and Skymark Airlines, which was unlikely to get involved.
"Part 2": Re-entering the Japanese market
On 1 July 2014, it was announced that AirAsia has partnered with the online mall and travel agency Rakuten, a Japanese cosmetics, energy drinks and aircraft leasing firm :ja:ノエビアホールディングス|Noevir Holdings, the sportswear firm :ja:アルペン |Alpen, and private equity firm Octave Japan, to relaunch AirAsia Japan. AirAsia will hold 49% of the stake. Its initial is JPY7 billion, with Yoshinori Odagiri, CEO from the previous incarnation of AirAsia Japan, returns to chair. The airline is expected to commerce operation in summer 2015, from a hub at Chūbu Centrair International Airport with 2 Airbus A320 planes, expanding to 4 by the end of 2015. On 6 October 2015, it was announced that AirAsia Japan has received their air operating license to start operating flights, as well as announcing Sendai, Sapporo, and Taipei, Taiwan as their first three destinations from Chubu Centrair International Airport. After several delays, AirAsia Japan finally relaunched on 29 October 2017 with first flight from its base at Nagoya to Sapporo.Destinations
| Country | City | Airport | Notes | Refs |
| Fukuoka | Fukuoka Airport | Begins 22 February 2020 | ||
| Nagoya | Chubu Centrair International Airport | |||
| Okinawa | Naha Airport | |||
| Osaka | Kansai International Airport | |||
| Sapporo | New Chitose Airport | |||
| Sendai | Sendai Airport | |||
| Tokyo | Narita International Airport | |||
| Busan | Gimhae International Airport | |||
| Seoul | Incheon International Airport | |||
| Taipei | Taipei Taoyuan International Airport |