THE Japanese government will be dramatically reducing landing fees for domestic flights serving some of the nation’s more remote airports in order to encourage foreign tourists to explore more of the country.
Landing fees for domestic flights into Japan’s more far-flung destinations will be reduced by a minimum of 10 per cent while some airports will have their fees slashed by as much as 50 per cent.
The initiative has been welcomed by travel companies with operations outside the primary destinations of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka.
“Anything that the authorities can do to reduce the costs associated with getting to Japan would be extremely helpful to us and the rest of the tourism industry,” said Paul Christie, CEO of specialist hiking company Walk Japan.
“A lot of the airports that they have built up and down the country are not being used to anywhere near their full capacity and I hope this would encourage more low-cost carriers to expand their operations within Japan,” he said. “For us, an initiative like his cannot come soon enough.”
The transport ministry is also looking into reducing landing fees for international flights into some regional airports.
Landing fees are calculated according to aircraft weight and noise levels, with a Boeing 767, for example, carrying 175 passengers charged around 200,000 yen (US$1,936) to land at an airport operated by the national government.
The ministry expects airlines to pass on the reduced fees to passengers in the form of lower ticket prices.
Details of the proposal are to be discussed before the end of the year and the new tariffs could be introduced for the start of Japan’s new fiscal year on April 1.
