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"We invite Indian tourists to explore the beauty of Japan and experience Japan Airlines innovative approach to travel, unveiling a new style of tourism yet to be discovered. Fly with Japan Airlines and embark on a journey of cultural enrichment and discovery. We look forward to welcoming onboard and serving with excellence in the sky." mentioned Akihito Takei, Vice President & Regional Manager (India) Japan Airlines, during an interaction with Japan calling ahead of the culmination of India Japan Exchange Year. Excerpts of the interaction with Japancalling.in below.
How has JAL contributed to promoting tourism between India and Japan during the India-Japan Tourism Exchange Years (2023-2024)?
Japan Airlines has been contributing to promote tourism between India & Japan actively. We think that if tourism is promoted between India and Japan, we will also grow in the Indian market which will contribute to actively transport travelers between the two countries. We have done activities to introduce Indian people to Japanese Culture, food and travel destinations of Japan. We participated in some of Japanese food exhibitions and events, and introduced Hiroshima Whiskey “Togouchi”, Hiroshima Gin “Sakurao” as well as some of local dairy products from Iwate Prefecture.
In addition, we also participated other Japanese cultural events like “Mela Mela Amime Japan” in Delhi that was focused on Japanese ANIME, and Japan Habba (Habba means festival in Kannada) in Bengaluru.
Since our intention is to cultivate Indian leisure demand to not only Japan Golden route, but also Japan other regions, we have curated fares which could cover add-on cities of Japan within the same fare. This offers travellers to choose more options to visit Japan in nominal prices.
To encourage USA bound passengers travelling on Japan Airlines from India to visit Japan for excursion, we removed the stop over fees from our India-USA/Canada fares to make Japan more cost effective. We are also aiming to promote Japan as a transit destination.
What initiatives has JAL undertaken to simplify travel and enhance the passenger experience between India and Japan during these exchange years?
We believe that the flight frequency and capacity play a very important role in simplifying travel between two countries. Hence in this context, we increased flight frequency between Bengaluru and Tokyo from three weekly to five weekly flights. Effective April 2025, this year, we will commence Daily flights between Bengaluru to Tokyo in addition to daily flights from New Delhi to Tokyo. We have started codeshare flights with Indigo which will provide seamless connections from other cities of India to connect onto New Delhi and Bengaluru flights. This will add convenience to travellers to travel from other cities of India to Japan.
We believe that inflight meals are important components of Customer experience while onboard. Thus, we offer special Indian vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals. We also have Muslim meals and even Jain meals taking into consideration the Indian demand for such meals. All these meals need to be requested before departure.
Japan Airlines offers Business Class, Premium Economy and Economy seats on New Delhi to Tokyo route. We offer Business Class and Economy seats on Bengaluru to Tokyo route. We will be introducing Premium Economy service from Bengaluru this year to enhance inflight experience.
Japan Airlines’ 787 aircrafts are equipped with the World’s Best Economy Class and Premium Economy Class seats by SKYTRAX World Airline Awards. They bring a comfortable ride to the destinations despite middle to long range flight distance.
In what ways does JAL support people-to-people exchange initiatives between India and Japan through its flight services? How does JAL encourage and facilitate educational or professional exchanges between the two nations during the designated years?
We support student exchange movements between India and Japan. We are in touch with few schools who send their students to Japan every year. These schools also conduct Japanese cultural programs which are attended by Japan Airlines members. Thus, we deepen our relationship with them to create a platform of mutual purpose of encouraging student movements between India and Japan.
We also are going to be touch with new schools which are interested in Japan as exchange programs’ destination from April 2025.
We have a Foundation organization, JAL Foundation, which contributes to the development of the next generation of global citizens through various projects to show and earn the appreciation of people, society, and nature, and to foster peaceful global community based on international understanding and cooperation and ensure continual betterment of society. As part of JAL Foundation, we conduct Haiku activities in schools and cultural organizations. Haiku is a Japanese poem which has a few lines. The students are encouraged to draw a painting and write a few lines on the painting. Through haiku, we can cultivate children’s sensibilities and introduce them to Japanese culture.
On the other hand, we also have the JAL scholarship program which we offer to Indian University students as part of exchange program to expand the awareness and interests of Japan. We invite more than 50 students from all over the world to let the world know more about real Japan.
Can you elaborate on any partnerships or collaborations JAL has formed with travel agencies or cultural organizations to promote cultural exchange between India and Japan? What feedback have you received from passengers and stakeholders in both countries regarding the impact of JAL’s involvement in the India-Japan Tourism Exchange Years?
To promote Japan as a destination, we conducted Familiarization trips for the Travel Agents. In this we take the travel Agents to Japan and show case the destination to them. Once they come back, they prepare tour packages in association with Japan Airlines and promote Japan to Indian tourists. We got very positive feedback from the Agents about Japan specially they experienced that Japan is not a very expensive destination as projected earlier in the past years.
We give you an example that we have been working closely with Hiroshima Tourism Association to promote Hiroshima to Indian tourists. Hiroshima is a very important historical city of Japan and Indians are aware of the importance. Hence, we introduce special pricing and packages in the market to learn more about the city of Hiroshima. We also have done joint promotions with JNTO (Japan National Tourist Organization) to promote Hiroshima in India.
From the cultural point of view, we work closely with Japan Foundation which is responsible to promote Japanese language and cultural activities in India. We actively participate on activities related to introduction of Japanese culture and language to Indian schools and universities.
With our joint efforts from every organization related to Japan promotion, Japan received more than 2 lakhs Indian travellers till DEC24 closing at approx. in total 233,000 Indian PAX that remained 140% vs CY23 during same period. Japan Airlines had played a crucial role to achieve these numbers being market leader for Delhi-Japan and Bengaluru Japan.
What long-term strategies does JAL have in place to continue strengthening the tourism and cultural connections between India and Japan beyond the Tourism Exchange Years?
As part of long-term strategy, we will continue to support movements from India to Japan not only from metropolitan cities but cultivate Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities of India. The Government of India is building new airports to improve air connectivity. Thus, it becomes more important for us to do activities in the Tier 2 or Tier 3 cities to encourage travelers to travel to Japan.
At the same time, Japan Airlines will support to travel to local cities in Japan, other than the Golden route. There are a lot of beautiful cities which can attract Indian tourists to visit. They will also enjoy the breeze of nature, the World Heritages, and new technologies while visiting anywhere of Japan.
In our endeavor to do so, we collaborated with India's one of the biggest Airlines i.e. Indigo through the codeshare agreements to enhance the overall connectivity between the two nations effective 16th Dec 2024.
This partnership allows passengers to book integrated journeys, facilitating seamless travel across multiple Indian cities and Japan. Leveraging IndiGo’s extensive domestic network, JAL passengers can now access 18 additional destinations like Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Cochin, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, etc. within India, promoting cultural and business exchanges between both countries.
We will continue to strengthen our association with Indigo.
There must be something quite new in Japan to all Indians.
We hope Indian tourists to learn more about Japan and Japan Airlines for the new style tourism yet to be revealed to the market.
Come and fly with Japan Airlines for the betterment of the knowledge.
We are looking forward to serving you in the sky.
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