AirAsia PH bolsters postpandemic goal with Tokyo flights

AirAsia Philippines has started offering flights to Tokyo this month, which it said was in line with its goal of fully restoring its international routes to prepandemic level this year.

In a statement, the low-cost carrier said it operated its maiden flight to Japan via Narita International Airport on Wednesday with an 84-percent load factor. The Manila-Tokyo route is being offered daily.

“Our maiden flight to Tokyo is just one of the many regional destinations we plan to open this first quarter of the year as we aim to fully restore our international capacity in the coming months,” AirAsia Philippines CEO Ricky Isla said.

The budget airline had expressed plans to operate all its international routes with the return of air travel after years of grounding due to COVID-19 border restrictions.

AirAsia Philippines is also eyeing to achieve this goal alongside the reopening of China. It said it would also restart flights to said route.

Last month, it reopened flights to Kaohsiung, Taiwan, which are now available three times per week.

The budget carrier ended January with a 90-percent average load factor, showing a 10-percent growth from the same period in 2022.

Its top destinations for local flights were Caticlan, Cebu, Tagbilaran, Davao and Iloilo. For international routes, the most preferred were Seoul, Bangkok, Osaka and Tokyo.

Meanwhile, the AirAsia Super App also announced a tie-up with hotel management group Archipelago International to serve customers staying in Jakarta.

The collaboration has expanded the app’s booking platform portfolio by over 40,000 rooms and residences in more than 200 locations across Southeast Asia, Caribbean, Middle East and Oceana. Among these are 13 listings in the Philippines.

The app currently has over 700,000 hotel listings worldwide.

“Our unique end-to-end travel booking experience for users allows AirAsia Super App to present more cross-sell marketing opportunities and increase visibility for direct hotel partners in reaching the right target market,” AirAsia Super App head of emerging markets Lim Ben-Jie said.

“This symbiotic partnership is greatly aligned with our goals this year of expanding our distribution and network capabilities and becoming the preferred hospitality company for guests,” Archipelago president and CEO John Flood said.