EDITORIAL: Aviation policy should be redirected for users' benefits

Low-cost carriers generally offer fares at about half of the prices charged by the major full-service airlines through cost-cutting measures such as selling tickets only online, packing more seats into aircraft and not supplying in-flight meals. Cabin attendants usually carry out multiple tasks.

Budget airlines have greatly expanded their presence in Europe, the United States and across Asia in recent years and are now likely to become familiar options for Japanese air travelers as well.

All Nippon Airways Co. has teamed up with AirAsia Berhad of Malaysia to create a new discounter based at Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture and which serves the Tokyo metropolitan area. ANA has already set up another budget carrier based at Kansai International Airport in Osaka Prefecture as a joint venture with a Hong Kong investment firm. ANA will operate cheap flights from the leading airports in eastern and western Japan.

Japan Airlines Corp. is also entering this segment of the market by establishing a joint venture with a number of partners, including Australia's Qantas Group, which has Jetstar Airways, a major discounter. The joint venture will offer low-priced flights by operating primarily out of Narita and Kansai airports.

The new carriers launched by ANA and JAL will add players to the list of no-frills airlines serving destinations in Japan. The list is currently made up of nine companies from six Asia-Pacific nations, including South Korea, Singapore and China. These foreign carriers, however, mainly serve airports outside the Tokyo metropolitan area. With Japan's two leading airlines competing with new Narita-based carriers, the industry landscape is sure to undergo a major transformation.

This is basically good news. Since the March 11 Great East Japan Earthquake, it has become even more important for Japan's economic revitalization to attract foreign visitors. The new discount carriers will also expand options for Japanese air travelers. We welcome the increase in budget carriers, assuming as a matter of course that safety is not compromised in any way by their cost-cutting efforts.

But there are a slew of obstacles in Japan to airlines' efforts to squeeze costs. The biggest of them are landing fees and the aircraft fuel tax, which are too high. Two other key factors are also at play: the management of airports and the government's civil aviation policy.

There are 28 major airports under state control, excluding Narita, Kansai and Chubu Centrair International Airport. In each case, the runways are operated by the central government, while the passenger buildings are operated by private-sector companies or public-private partnerships. The separate management of facilities makes it difficult to use profits from the operations of passenger buildings to lower landing fees.

The income from landing fees and the aircraft fuel tax is funneled into a special budget account and used to build, operate and maintain airports. This rigid system has led to the construction of many local airports with poor earnings prospects. As a result, Japan now has 98 airports, including those operated by local governments.

A group of experts that advises the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has compiled a report calling for reform of airport operations. As its key recommendations, the group has proposed integrated management of runways and buildings and expanded use of private-sector expertise and funds for the operations of airports. As for the airport development account of the special budget account, the government decided to abolish it in the future during its budget review last year.

The government's spending on airports from the general account budget has traditionally been smaller than its outlays for roads and ports. There seems to be a reasonable case for ramping up spending from the general account for expansion of airports likely to attract more travelers, provided that the government can push through the proposed reforms of airport operations and consolidate airports nationwide. This can be done by scrapping local airports that offer little hope of operating profitably.

The expansion of low-cost carriers, which will make air travel more accessible for many people, should be taken by the government as a signal to shift the focus of its aviation policy toward the benefits of users.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 21