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WORDS MOLLY DYSON


INFORM


Q&A: YUJI AKASAKA JAPAN AIRLINES


INT E R VIEW


Yuji Akasaka took over as president in April, but his career at Japan Airlines spans 30 years. Most recently he was in charge of engineering and maintenance. By Matthew Parsons


As the newly appointed president, what are your priorities?


I’m taking some time to look at the company, look at projects and also plan for the future. I also want to maintain our record on flight safety.


In your 30 years at JAL, what three things have had the biggest impact?


First, in 2010 we filed for bankruptcy, and that had an impact. Second, we have had no accidents that have led to casualties; we take pride in our safety record. Third, making the decision to join an alliance [in 2007 JAL joined Oneworld]. Open skies agreements opened up the industry to a lot of competition, and our alliance helped us to configure our structure.


Are rising oil prices a concern?


This is a concern, but we’ve taken a lot of action, like hedging, to offset those rises. We can’t talk about the strategy of our offsetting, but we believe the rise will taper off, and then prices will be lower.


JAL has just won a Skytrax award for economy class, but how important is business travel to JAL?


We are a full-service carrier and business travel is huge – it’s 50 per cent of our revenue. We won Best Business Seat in 2013. We’ll continue to grow our excellent products. We want to challenge ourselves and win for business class again.


You’ve applied for a code share with Hawaiian Airlines. How important are these types of agreements?


There is a greater culture of partnerships. We have joint ventures already with BA and American Airlines, for example. The Hawaiian code share is different; it’s smaller. The antitrust authority asked: “Would you take market share?” There are enough customer benefits with this code share. Don’t look at the Hawaii-Japan route itself. For Hawaiians, they can access Japan and therefore the rest of Asia. We are confident the code share will proceed.


BACK TO REALITY More news in our aviation feature, p76-89


buyingbusinesstravel.com


BBT shortlisted in national awards


BUYING BUSINESS TRAVEL has been named a finalist in the inaugural Press Gazette British Journalism Awards for Specialist Media. This new category of the


British Journalism Awards will “recognise great journalism being carried out on specialist and B2B titles – and by specialist journalists working in the mainstream media”, say the organisers. BBT contributors Rob Gill, David Churchill


and Mark Frary have been shortlisted in the Transport category. Several other publications have also been nominated, including the Guardian, Sunday Times and New Scientist. The winners will be announced at an awards


ceremony at Stationers’ Hall, London, on 17 September 2018.


2018 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 17


GROUNDSCOPE PARTNERS WITH


CAPSTAR CHAUFFEUR COMPANY CAPSTAR is now bookable via Groundscope, following a tie-up between the two organisations. John McCallion, chief executive of the ground transportation platform, said the integration allows Groundscope to take duty- of-care one step further: “Working together, this will provide clients with drivers who have a military background and understand the security requirements of our customers, acting as both close protection and drivers. Their safety and service culture mirrors that of Groundscope, too.” Capstar will be available to all Groundscope’s clients online, via its mobile app and via GDS.


■ Interview with Capstar founder Charlie Bowmont, pages 30-31


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