AirAsia announces Japan comeback with Rakuten

like any nail that sticks out in japan, it will be driven down. the gov't and the airline industry, in collusion, will make sure that air asia have the most turbulent time taking off in japan. i guess mr. fernandez forgot that japan doesn't do competition.

Hope that they have enough pilots, the LCCs have been cancelling lots of flights lately due to a shortage of flight deck crew.

Took flights from Chubu to Kuala Lumpur, within Malaysia to Langkawi and Penang and another return flight from KL to Myanmar, everything worked like a charm. Their rates were amazing, no other carrier can match AirAsia. Welcome to Japan and shake up the ageing behemoths like ANA and JAL who have the nerve to charge 50000 yen as 'fuel surcharge' for many international flights. I hope that AirAsia makes Nagoya airport as their hub. Now they have brand new terminal in Kuala lumpur which should ease trips into KL because of the direct high speed train.

"Flying cheap in and around South East Asia is one thing, however the Japanese market demands more level of service in my opinion."

I guess you've never flown on Singapore Airlines in the region. LOL. My domestic flights on JAL have been minimalist in the extreme: a cup of tea and that's about it.

Took AA Bangkok to Phuket, and it was great. I hope they fly to Hokkaido and Okinawa.

The press conference ended with servings of ice cream in several flavors—but not vanilla. LOL love this guy, lets hope he gives the LLC business in Japan a good shake up, LLC are basically buses with wings, if you want to be pampered pay more and fly business class.

I'm with Stranger on this - rather rare. I haved used AA for years when flying around SEA. When I looked into flights to and from Japan to SEA, I was shocked at the price knowing what you get when you fly with them. I booked with Cebu instead. Saved money, better service and will do it again. Sorry but unless AA is going to halve the price they were asking about for before for their flights, I won't be flying with them based out of Japan.

Booked 2 return trips tickets Kuala Lumpur - Nagoya for November 2014 and February 2015. 26,603 Yen incl. taxes and fuel surcharge.

@Strangerland Can you explain your comment a little bit in detail. Sorry I did you understand " inter-SE-Asia flights = great. Air Asia from Japan to SE-Asia = bad."

To Asim, elaborating on Strangerland's comment based on my own experience... Air Asia is as cheap as it gets flying around SE Asia, but the legroom is non-existent, and often the flight times have you arriving at the airport at 5 am or so. For a 1 hour flight, that's bearable. For anything over two hours, it's not - unless they have planes with more legroom for longer flights. If the price to fly to and from Japan is only slightly cheaper than one of the major carriers, and you're tall by Asian standards, book the major carrier. Your body will thank you for it.

For those complaining about the cost of using AA for flights to and from Japan, could that have been due to the prior relationship with ANA? Could it be that it will be cheaper now?

AA is partners with JAL not ANA. ANA is partners with UNITED.

No, they were partners with ANA. ANA's partnership with United is a separate issue.

http://www.airasia.com/my/en/press-releases/ana-and-airasia-form-airasia-japan.page

The low cost carriers have nasty habits! They are frequently late,have hidden charges,are prone to bankruptcy and infamous for low levels of service.

I always pay a little bit more to get a more professional service and most importantly to get where I want to go on time.......

@Strangerland Can you explain your comment a little bit in detail. Sorry I did you understand " inter-SE-Asia flights = great. Air Asia from Japan to SE-Asia = bad."

Air Asia is great for flying within SE Asia. Cheap flights, good service, comfortable planes, and as a bonus, pretty stewardesses. But flying from Japan to SE Asia it's not nearly as good - the flights are only negligibly cheaper than full-service airlines. It's better just to pay the additional money to fly JAL or ANA.

like any nail that sticks out in japan, it will be driven down. the gov't and the airline industry, in collusion, will make sure that air asia have the most turbulent time taking off in japan. i guess mr. fernandez forgot that japan doesn't do competition.

Good thing he picked Rakuten to partner up with - they don't play games with the government here.

It's possible, and I hope so.

In the airline industry AA is usually "AMERICAN AIRLINES" Air Asia is more identified as AK or AXM.

Air Asia for inter-SE-Asia flights = great. Air Asia from Japan to SE-Asia = bad. Better to fly a proper airline.

Heard they were aiming at Nagoya Chubu Airport. That alone is doom to failure. If they flew into Kansai or Narita/Haneda then the have a chance, but not Chubu. So first you pay a cheap ticket into out of Japan, you just go to get to/out of Nagoya first.

I was reading about this in another web forum, someone bought some cheap Air Asia flight into Nagoya, then they also needed to buy another ticket (non Air Asia) to Tokyo (Shinkansen, bus, another airline etc).

Flying cheap in and around South East Asia is one thing, however the Japanese market demands more level of service in my opinion. I'm not Japanese and I flew an LCC, last time I did that. No leg room, nothing is free, even a seat reservation cost money, checked bag, more money. At the end of the day, the price difference from a "traditional airline" was minimal.

For those complaining about the cost of using AA for flights to and from Japan, could that have been due to the prior >relationship with ANA? Could it be that it will be cheaper now?

AA is partners with JAL not ANA. ANA is partners with UNITED.