Japan's ANA to launch budget airline with Hong Kong investment firm

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Sept. 09--TOKYO -- Japan's All Nippon Airways Co Ltd (ANA) announced Thursday that it was to launch a budget airline at the end of 2010 with First Eastern Investment Group in Hong Kong.

The new company was to start operating both international and domestic routes out of Kansai International Airport, Osaka, in the second half of 2011, ANA said.

Japanese investors were to hold a 66.7-per-cent stake in the new company, including a 39-per-cent stake by that ANA, the top shareholder.

The remaining 33.3-per-cent stake was to be owned by First Eastern, the maximum foreign ownership currently allowed for an airline in Japan, ANA said.

The new airline was expected to offer one-way tickets from Kansai to Narita International Airport near Tokyo for roughly 5,000 yen (60 dollars), about a third of the bullet train fare, Kyodo News reported citing unnamed sources.

The airline was also to give international passengers deep discounts on flights -- mainly those to Asian destinations from Kansai -- as it intends to compete with foreign budget airlines, unnamed sources told Kyodo.

China's budget carrier Spring Airlines also announced late August it was to start offering 4,000-yen tickets for one-way charter flights between Shanghai and Ibaraki, 80 kilometres north-east of Tokyo, in September.

Debt-ridden Japan Airlines Corp (JAL), the former flag carrier struggling to emerge from bankruptcy, said late August it was considering launching a low-cost airline.