Low-budget travelers from Japan may target Hawaii and Guam in 2014

Low-cost vacation travel to Guam and Hawaii may be the target of ANA Airlines plan to increase their low cost operation Air Asia style.

Low-cost vacation travel to Guam and Hawaii may be the target of ANA Airlines plan to increase their low cost operation Air Asia style. The airline will include Hawaii among its other destinations by the summer of 2014.

ANA All Nippon Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance and flies between Guam and Hawaii to Japan in cooperation with United Airlines

While the companyโ€™s lead carrier All Nippon Airways will cash in on high-priced business travels, its budget airlines will target tourists headed overseas.

ANA bought AirAsia Bhd out of a Japanese budget airline joint venture for 2.45 billion yen (US$24.99 million) last month, dissolving a loss-making alliance after less than two years.

This unit will now become a resort-oriented carrier, ANA said on Tuesday, the Nikkei said.

โ€œIn the Tokyo metropolitan area, business travelers can depart Haneda, and the Narita-based budget flyer can capture tourism demand,โ€ Shinzo Shimizu, ANA senior vice-president, was quoted as saying in the Nikkei.

Name of the new airline, which plans to start with two aircraft, will be announced in August. The company plans to increase the fleet to five aircraft by March, the Japanese business daily reported.

While the domestic flights will be limited to popular tourist destinations such as Sapporo and Okinawa, overseas resort destinations will be included later, the Nikkei said.

Unlike European and U.S. budget airlines, which focus on business travelers, ANA plans to target families and other tourists looking to travel overseas, the paper reported.

ANAโ€™s other low-cost carrier Peach Aviation will also strengthen its tourist-based operations by launching an Okinawa-Taiwan route in September, the paper said.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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