The Japanese and Chinese governments are considering the establishment of a new flight path between the two countries, as demand for air travel grows amid an increase in the number of Chinese visitors to Japan, it has been learned.
The new flight path, which airliners will be able to use as a segment of longer trips, will connect airspace above Kagoshima Prefecture's Amami region to Shanghai.
The two countries have agreed to conduct test flights operated by commercial airliners as early as within this year. The Japanese government intends to reach an official agreement with China and make the flight path fully operational by 2020, when the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics will be held.
Currently, two major flight paths link Japan and China: a northerly path that connects airspace over the Hokuriku region with Beijing and a southerly path that connects airspace over the Kyushu region with Shanghai.
The new Amami-Shanghai path is expected to be created by diverging from the existing southerly route, according to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry.
The number of Chinese visitors to Japan has surged in recent years. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, the number of Chinese visitors to Japan in 2017 totaled 7.36 million, a more than fivefold increase from 2012. Chinese visitors account for 25 percent of the 28.69 million foreign visitors to Japan, more than any other country.
According to the transport ministry, more than 1,000 regular round-trip flights between Japan and China are scheduled per week, nearly double the number of flights between Japan and North America. The southerly path is particularly crowded as it connects to routes between China and Australia, and often experiences delays.
The Japanese government has set a goal of luring 40 million foreign visitors to Japan in 2020, with demand for air travel expected to continue growing.
The new path is expected to ease congestion on the southerly path and shorten airplanes' waiting times at airports in Shanghai and elsewhere.
According to aviation sources, flights departing from Okinawa Prefecture to Shanghai currently fly along the southerly path, taking a detour around South Korea's Jeju Island. The new path is expected to shorten flight times by about 10 minutes and reduce fuel consumption.
According to the Okinawa prefectural government, 546,000 people visited the prefecture from China in fiscal 2017, up 25 percent from the previous fiscal year. The transport ministry believes the new path will benefit both passengers and airlines.
The two governments also agreed to test measures for shortening the distance between planes simultaneously flying along the southerly track from the current 20 nautical miles (about 37 kilometers) to 15 nautical miles (about 28 kilometers), while continuing to ensure safety. Test flights will be conducted at night when few flights are scheduled.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
