Japan’s two largest carriers are seeing slower-than-expected recovery on their Mainland China network, echoing a sentiment made a year ago in the aftermath of the easing of Covid-19 restrictions. 

Senior executives from Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways also flagged an imbalance in demand on their China network, with Japan outbound far weaker due to visa-related restrictions for Japanese visitors to China. 

Conversely, the two airlines, who spoke to FlightGlobal at the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines’ assembly of presidents in Brunei, are seeing a gradual uptick in Chinese visitors to Japan. This recovery, though, remains tepid. 

Katsuya Goto, ANA’s executive vice president for alliances and international affairs, says: “For China, we are facing difficulties…because for Japanese travellers, a visa is required. So it is a hurdle for all Japanese travellers.” 

The visa requirement did not exist pre-pandemic, and only Chinese travellers into Japan had to apply for a visa to enter the country. 

Goto notes that business travel from Japan to China has picked up, but “barriers still remain”. 

As for Chinese inbound travel demand, Goto says it is recovering faster relative to outbound from Japan, but still falls below pre-pandemic levels. 

JAL senior vice president for route marketing Ross Leggett tells FlightGlobal that travel demand – measured by passenger volume – for flights to China has only recovered to 40% of pre-pandemic levels. 

While visitor arrivals from China to Japan have recovered to around 80%, Leggett says that “a lot of the recovery is focused around the Chinese carriers and the low-cost operators”, not full-service Japanese airlines  like JAL. 

To this end, JAL’s financial chief Yuji Saito says the airline’s low-cost unit Spring Japan is “ready to capture inbound demand from China”, and has steadily increased capacity into the country. 

The two carriers had previously warned of slow recovery from China, especially given their large exposure to the Chinese market pre-Covid-19.