“Globes” has learned that El Al is negotiating with Japanese airline ANA (All Nippon Airways) to reach a strategic agreement for joint flights between Israel and Japan. The contacts follow the success of four special El Al flights between Israel and Osaka, Japan last month. 1,700 Japanese tourists arrived on the flight, with a similar number of Israelis going to Japan.
The marketing success of the flights in both directions points to the enormous potential of an agreement for schedule coordination, joint marketing and improve options for passengers from Israel to connect with ANA flights to Japan from various locations in the Far East to which El Al flies.
El Al determined in advance that the flights have great importance, both in terms of incoming tourism promotion, trade and business traffic between the two countries and as a way to open regular flights between Japan and Israel.
The Japanese tourists visited Israel under a joint project with Japanese food and health products company Nikken, which owns a seaweed producing plant in Eilat. The Israelis visiting Japan traveled on package tours arranged by agencies in Israel.
The aviation treaty between Israel and Japan permits airlines from the two countries to fly two-three flights per week, with up to 600 passengers. ANA does not fly directly to Israel, but its sales to Israel are greater than those of its competitor Japan Air Lines, Japan’s national carrier.
El Al does not plan to open a direct route to Japan. This has aroused protests on the part of the Israel-Japan Chamber of Commerce, which claims that despite the aviation agreement of April 23, 1999, El Al has not replied to their questions regarding the date of the start of the route. The Chamber of Commerce claims that exporters are forced to fly cargo to Japan via Europe or other Far Eastern countries and that a direct route would save exporters over NIS 10 million a year.
The aviation agreement was signed following several years of disputes due to El Al’s insistence of flying to Tokyo rather than Osaka, as offered by the Japanese government. EL Al also insisted on more stringent security arrangements in Japan.
El Al states that the preparations for opening the route have taken a long time and that there is a need to develop a market before beginning flights. The request to fly to Tokyo was rejected years ago, due to heavy congestion at Narita Airport in Tokyo. El Al also states that a route to Osaka was unfeasible, since Osaka is not an attractive destination for businesspeople who want to reach Japan’s main commercial center.
According to El Al, only one weekly flight can be justified to Osaka which would not meet the needs of businesspeople who require at least two flights a week, to enable them to return in mid-week. 3,000 people currently fly from Israel to Japan each year, and 18,000 passengers, mostly pilgrims and tourists, travel from Japan to Israel.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 20 November 2000