Japan / Australia Concludes Open-Skies Agreement

[Steve Crook]

I saw this thread on airlineroute.net. What exactly does it mean and what possible changes to services between Australia and Japan might reult?


Japan / Australia Concludes Open-Skies Agreement
by JL
Japan and Australia last week (27SEP11-29SEP11) has an open-skies deal, due to be in effect as early as Summer 2013.

Details:

*Open-Skies in effect as early as Summer 2013 when Tokyo Narita Airport annual slots increases to 270000 per year

*Restrictions of 5th freedom rights removed for Australian carriers, excluding Tokyo Airports.

*Service to/from Australia is now possible out of Tokyo Haneda between 2200 and 0600 hrs

[Brock Little]

This effectively means (correct me if I'm wrong) that airlines are legally allowed to operate domestic tag-on services in foreign countries - for example Qantas can do a SYD-KIX-CTS (New Chitose) service and sell domestic tickets on KIX-CTS to the Japanese public. Likewise, JAL can do the same with selling domestic tickets on SYD-MEL if they do that tag-on to their NRT-SYD service. As these fifth freedom rights are removed for everything bar Tokyo Airports (mainly HND and NRT) an airline can fly direct to these airports but not sell tickets through to tag-on destinations. Of course Qantas can get past this by using Jetstar Japan for connecting flights.

An example of an airline not having fifth freedom rights is United on their SYD-MEL tag-on. Those seats are reserved for only UA pax wishing to go through to MEL who have flown on the SFO or LAX service - not any domestic passengers.

The removal of these restrictions gives secondary airports more of a spotlight, and allows for larger international aircraft into those airports. Maybe when fifth freedom restrictions are removed for Japanese airlines we may see the likes of JAL back in MEL and BNE! :)

[JoshuaD]

Not quite Brock, the open skies agreement allows for unlimited capacity from either country carriers to fly routes between the two countries. They can sell seats between domestic points, only if part of an international journey, and they cant just fill up between BNE-SYD etc. The whole open skies thing is designed to boost air activity, and by doing so, stimulate the economy and acces of each country. Basically, ahat it will mean for most people is a greater choice of airlines, flights, and potentially some extra cities, however, that last point is probably doubtful

[Justin L]

Brock, fifth freedom rights allow airlines to fly onto a third country and sell seats on that sector. For example, if JQ flew SYD-KIX-ICN, it could sell tickets on the KIX-ICN leg as its own sector. The first post mentioned the fifth freedom rights restriction had been removed for Australian carriers, I'm not sure of the status of fifth freedom rights for Japanese carriers in Australia though, for sectors such as SYD-AKL, etc.

This is similar to what QF dow now through SIN (and until the recent changes BKK and HKG), do with AKL-LAX and had done for SFO-YVR in the past.

FYI, JQ previously already had tag on flights in Japan - the now defunct NGO-KIX tag on.

[Brock Little]

Thanks guys for clearing that up...but with an Open-Skies deal between two countries, it would be fair enough to say that Australian and Japanese carriers will be able to operate without restrictions into the other country, wouldn't it?

[James G.]

Could this possibly lead ANA to begin services to Australia? Maybe with the new 787?

[Rowan McKeever]

Essentially Brock, yeah. The only restrictions are that an Aussie carrier can't exercise 5th freedom rights through NRT or HND, and that all ops by an Aussie carrier through HND must be between 2200-0600L.

Would be good to see ANA... 787 or otherwise.

[Will H]

In terms of what the agreement means, you may find handy this article (disclosure: I wrote it): www.centreforaviation.com/analysis/australia-japan-open-skies-agreement-fails-to-gain-traction-in-shrinking-market-60083

In short, don't expect any changes. There's nothing in the agreement that would incentive ANA to operate flights now more so than before.