Hong Kong Airlines to end services to Tokyo

Hong Kong Airlines announced Friday it will end its services to Tokyo in January, after it suspended flights to Osaka last October, to "tighten" its focus on regional routes.

The company will axe its route to the Japanese capital from January 10 allowing it "to better allocate resources in servicing more popular routes and strengthen its regional competitiveness", a company spokeswoman told AFP by email.

"There is a need to continue to tighten focus on routes in line with the company's regional strategy," she said, adding the airline had carried 30 percent more passengers in 2012 than the previous year.

The airline described the move as a "purely a commercial decision".

China and Japan have close economic ties but their political relationship has been particularly strained recently due to a dispute over islands in the East China Sea and Chinese resentment over past conflicts and atrocities.

Tensions over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, which China claims under the name Diaoyu, escalated dramatically after the Japanese government bought three of them from private owners last September.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan plunged 33 percent in October 2012 compared to a year previously, to 71,000 visitors, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

The Hong Kong-based airline was established in 2006 and operates 21 aircraft flying to international locations including Bangkok and Brussels, and to various locations in mainland China.

It ended flights to London, serviced by three Airbus 320-200 planes exclusively fitted with business-class seats, last September due to poor demand.

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Ever since the conflict of the islands between China and Japan, airlines serving routes between them have taken a hit with poor loads. After so many months of deadlocks, it seems to be more commercially viable to axe these routes and cut losses, especially so for smaller airlines to stop the bleeding.

What surprises me is the airline using three A320s to fly passengers to London. That is quite an amazing range for a small plane, although the load might be light due to the all business-class seats.