Airasia Zest to fly to Haneda

Low cost carrier AirAsia Zest plans to launch fl ights to Haneda in Japan. AirAsia Zest chief executive offi cer Alfredo Yao told reporters yesterday the airline plans to start fl ights to Haneda. “We’ve already applied. We applied this month for fl ights to Haneda,” he said. According to Yao, the airline intends to have daily fl ights to Tokyo’s second major gateway. Yao is hopeful the airline could start fl ights to Japan soon citing the Philippines’ good relations with that country. The airline hopes to mount flights to Japan after the Philippine commercial aviation industry was restored to Category I status by the Federal Aviation Administration earlier this month. The Philippines was downgraded to Category 2 status in 2008. Japan had earlier imposed restrictions on local carriers from the Philippines from mounting additional fl ights, citing safety and security concerns. Earlier, AirAsia Zest was looking at offering fl ights to Narita in Japan this year. The Philippines and Japan had concluded successful air talks just last year. The new services agreement covers an increase to 400 fl ights per week from 119 previously between the Ninoy Aquino International Airport ( NAIA) and Narita International Airport. The new air services agreement likewise covers fl ights between NAIA and Haneda. AirAsia Zest’s planned fl ights to Japan comes on the heels also of Japan’s recent decision to remove visa requirements for Filipinos. Visa- free entry to Japan is expected to start by June this year.