Jumbos to bring jetloads more Japanese

Air New Zealand is sending jumbo jets back to Tokyo as high-spending Japanese tourists start flying again.

The NZX-listed carrier will increase capacity on its Narita Airport route by 25 per cent next summer, using 379-seat Boeing 747-400 aircraft for the first time in five years.

Japanese visitors to New Zealand spend on average $4550 a person; nearly 88,000 visited last year spending $362 million, the airline said.

Deputy chief executive Norm Thompson said using a 747 aircraft on the Tokyo route would provide more than 1000 additional return seats a week during the high season.

"The move demonstrates Air New Zealand's confidence in the growth potential of the Japan tourism market," Thompson said.

"The success of special charter flights this summer suggests the Japanese market is experiencing a strong recovery."

Air New Zealand is operating 14 special return charter flights from nine departure points between the end of December and the beginning of April.

"That's triple the number we ran last year."

Japanese visitor numbers had fallen from 165,000 in 2004 to about 78,000 in 2009 before growing 12 per cent last year to 87,735 with the help of additional charter flights and increased marketing, the airline said.

Shares in the 74.7 per cent Government-owned airline closed down 1c yesterday at $1.39.

Air New Zealand at present runs Boeing 777-200 aircraft daily to Narita Airport and Boeing 767-300s to Osaka's Kansai Airport five times a week.

The additional capacity will be available between December this year and February next year.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive Kevin Bowler said the influenza virus in 2009 had a big effect on Japanese outbound travel.

"What we saw in 2010 was recovering from that position and basically getting that volume of visitors back but I think on top of that there's also a little bit of organic growth and I would say that's in the order of 3 or 4 per cent."

The Japanese market was expected to continue to grow about 3-5 per cent for the next two or three years.

The reintroduced jumbo jet could mean about 5000-6000 additional Japanese visitors, Bowler said.