AirAsia Japan (Nagoya Chubu) will launch during the third quarter of this year Tony Fernandes has said. The AirAsia Group founder and CEO's comments come against the backdrop of several reports in the Japanese media that claim the LCC start-up, though having secured its AOC in October last year, has yet to complete its maintenance and operational preparedness certifications.
According to the ZipanguFlyer blog, given that the airline reportedly still lacks an adequate number of pilots, maintenance personnel, and operations control staff, Japanese aviation analysts are skeptical of the timeframe Fernandes has put forward proffering a fourth quarter launch date as more likely.
They argue that even if AirAsia Japan was to undertake crew training flights next month with proving flights for the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) to be undertaken by August, the earliest the LCC could then only make a debut is in October.
The start-up currently has a pair of A320-200 (sl)s on its books which will be used to connect Nagoya Chubu, Sapporo Chitose, Sendai, and Taipei Taoyuan once operations eventually launch.
