Aviation
AirCalin Wants More Japanese Business
Now it has increased flights to Osaka
Despite the war in Iraq, New Caledonia has so far managed to keep its prominent Japanese market afloat. AirCalin director-general and chief executive, Jean-Michel Masson said for the first part of the year despite the circumstances, flights from Noumea to Osaka have increased from one to two a week.
Compared to Air France last year, AirCalin plans to outrun the French airline numbers-wise in the traffic of Japanese travellers destined for the French Pacific territory.
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Masson said: "For the first three months of this year the Osaka-Noumea route carried 6000 Japanese visitors, an increase of 16 percent.
"In April out of Tokyo, we plan to fly to New Caledonia 2800 Japanese passengers, compared to 2600 flown in by Air France last year."
Japan holds a key niche for New Caledonia's Asian visitor market. Against inbound figures from New Zealand for instance, in 2002 a total of 5935 visitors from New Zealand travelled to New Caledonia compared to Japan's 27,202 for the same year. France is the only other source country that rivals New Caledonia's Japanese market.
To estimate, however, how the May period would perform, said Masson, would be premature as Japanese travellers are increasingly making late bookings.
There is a tendency for Japanese travellers to completely shun travel, as opposed to divert, at the instance of global insecurity. As volatile as the Japanese market is, Masson projects a 10 percent to 15 percent growth on the Osaka-Noumea route in April. Keeping the giant wheel of the lucrative Japanese market turning is also a concern for French Polynesia. And Tahiti Tourisme and Air Tahiti Nui are making sure the big wheel remains greased by a team comprised of members from the airline and the tourism bureau through a series of meetings with Japanese travel agents.
A combination of the war in Iraq and the lethargic Japanese economy contributed to a slump in visitor numbers bound for French Polynesia. Air Tahiti Nui pulled 40 percent or an equivalent of 23,000 visitors of the Japanese traffic earlier in the year prior to the war.
While any tourist is worth every penny to any tourism industry, the typically urbane Japanese visitor to, for instance, French Polynesia is worth double. Tahiti Tourisme chief executive Dany Panero stated that: "The Japanese tourist spends about 30,000 French Pacific francs (US$275) per day and per person during a visit to French Polynesia. That's double what the average tourist spends."
Meanwhile, AirCalin expects the delivery of a 146-seater Airbus A320 in January 2004, to replace the 126-seat capacity Boeing 737-300 currently operating the regional route through French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna, Australia, New Zealand and Fiji.
The Airbus A320 will bring to three the number of Airbuses in the AirCalin fleet.
