Japan Airlines is operating at 65% of its pre-pandemic international capacity, although COVID-19 curbs are limiting demand to just about 40% of pre-pandemic levels, an airline executive said Tuesday. In the domestic market, the airline is operating at 100% of its pre-pandemic capacity, though demand is about 80% of corresponding levels, said Akihide Yoguchi, JAL's vice president of strategy research for the Asia Oceania region. "Demand for domestic has recovered faster than international, like many other markets," he said at a CAPA Centre for Aviation conference. Japan's international travel demand has been hampered by the need for tourists to obtain visas and travel agency bookings as well a daily cap on inbound traveller numbers. Japan's government is planning to waive tourist visa requirements from some countries as part of a further easing of border controls, Fuji News Network reported on Monday. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may decide as early as this week on the easing, which would also allow travellers to visit Japan without using a travel agency, FNN reported. Japan did not require tourist visas for 68 countries and regions before the pandemic.<br/>
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Fiji Airways expects to reach nearly 100% of its pre-pandemic capacity by the end of the year, as demand for travel to its tropical Pacific home has rebounded strongly, a senior executive said on Tuesday. The carrier's capacity from Fiji to Australia and North America is at around 120% of pre-pandemic levels, said the airline's executive manager for strategy, networks and alliances, John Checketts. Capacity on New Zealand routes should reach 100% by the end of the year, he added. Routes to Hong Kong and Japan, however, have been paused due to travel restrictions, Checketts said at a CAPA Centre for Aviation conference. "In terms of capacity, we are nearly at 100% of our pre-COVID capacity by the end of the year," Checketts said. "We've had to pivot our capacity to where there is demand." Demand from places such as Australia and the United States had been strong despite ticket prices being above pre-pandemic levels to help cover higher fuel costs.<br/>
British aviation authority restricts airspace during queen's funeral<br/>The first direct flight between Australia and southern India took off on Wednesday, under a new route supported by funding by the NSW government in an effort to boost visitation with the country’s fifth-biggest trading partner. The new Qantas route between Sydney and Bengaluru received funding from the state government’s $60m Aviation Attraction Fund. An A330 aircraft will take off from Sydney to Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport four times per week on a Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. In 2019, India was the fastest growing market to NSW, with 175,000 visitors spending an estimated $444m. In July, India was the third-largest source of visitors to the state, with the NSW government expecting that number to surge over the coming months due to pent-up demand. Treasurer Matt Kean said the service hopes to support more than 100 jobs and generate more than $19m in delivering more than 44,000 inbound international seats to Sydney up to June 30, 2023. Many Australian companies have operations in Bengaluru, and the new route cuts the current travel time between the two cities by three hours. Tourism minister Ben Franklin said the grant was key to the state’s goal of making NSW the premier visitor economy of the Asia Pacific, “our airports are the gateway to our state, so supporting the return of airlines to them through the Aviation Attraction Fund is key to achieving our goal,” he said.<br/>
Qantas chairman Richard Goyder has said Alan Joyce and his executive team have done “exceptionally well” in a strongly-worded riposte to the CEO’s critics. Writing in the AFR, Goyder hailed his senior staff for steering the airline through a pandemic that “sent other airlines and their creditors packing”. It comes amid criticism that Joyce’s annual salary increased by 15% to $2.27m despite a string of problems to plague the business, including record delays and hours-long call wait times. The piece argued most aviation companies globally are grappling with the same problems as Qantas. “This is what happens when you shut down an entire sector for more than two years,” he wrote. “Companies make deep cuts to survive. Skilled people walk away because the uncertainty seems endless.” He said Qantas is now well on its way to fixing its problems, quipping, “If you haven’t heard this, it may be because the data showing the improvement received far less media attention than stories showing how bad things got. In the meantime, the corporate obituary writers have been busy. Their analysis has (mostly) been unencumbered by what’s happening at other airlines, or that Qantas’ performance has turned around.”<br/>