All Nippon May Lose 10% of Flights to China as Rallies Continue
April 18 (Bloomberg) -- All Nippon Airways Co., Japan's second-largest air carrier, said it may lose about 10 percent of tour bookings to China by the start of public holidays in early May as anti-Japan protest rallies continued. About 1,000 Japanese package tourists canceled trips to China every day between April 11 and April 15, out of 110,000 seats booked for Golden Week holidays in early May, said the Tokyo- based airline's president at a press conference today.
``Business travelers are still flying to China,'' said All Nippon's president Mineo Yamamoto. ``Most of the cancellations are coming from group tours.'' The cancellation would be a blow to All Nippon, which is counting on increasing traffic to China to bolster its overseas earnings. All Nippon earns a quarter of international sales from China, flying 116 times weekly to nine Chinese cities, including Beijing and Shanghai. Political relations between Japan and China are at their worst since Asia's two largest economies established diplomatic ties in 1972. Tens of thousands of protesters held rallies in a dozen Chinese cities on Saturday, the third consecutive weekend that people have taken to the streets in government-sanctioned rallies to oppose Japan's bid to join the United Nations Security Council. They also demanded Japan's retraction of history textbooks that gloss over atrocities committed in China during the Second World War. Shares of All Nippon fell for a sixth day in Tokyo, dropping 3.2 percent to a six-month low of 331 yen.
Japan Airlines' Cancellations
Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's largest carrier by sales, said it's also had cancellations on its China flights, according to company spokesman Kenichi Ando.
``Travel to China is being affected as some companies restricted business travel to the country while people who had planned to visit for sightseeing are refraining from travel,'' said Ando, without specifying how many passenger have canceled flights.
Jalpak, Japan Airlines' travel unit, said earlier today about 210 people of 4,000 who made reservations for package tours to China during the April to June period canceled their trips from April 11 to 17.
China also opposes Japan's bid for a seat on the United Nations Security Council and rejects Japan's decision earlier this year to join the U.S. in declaring Taiwan a ``security concern.'' China claims sovereignty over Taiwan.
Suing Seibu
Separately, All Nippon said it sent a letter on April 7 to Kokudo Corp. to ask for 700 million yen compensation, for being duped into investing in the shares of Seibu Railway Co. All Nippon sold 1 million shares of Seibu Railway before the railway operator's shares were expelled from the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Dec. 17 for breaching shareholding rules. The sale of the stake, bought between 2000 and 2002, caused the airline to lose 1 billion yen ($9.3 million).
All Nippon set a deadline for Kokudo to reply to the letter by May, and if Kokudo doesn't meet the deadline, All Nippon will sue the company, Yamamoto said.
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