Jetstar cuts Japan flights over swine flu fears

BRISBANE - Jetstar has cut next month's flights from Australia to Japan by a third as the swine flu scare has caused a sharp fall in Japanese passenger numbers on the route.

The Qantas subsidiary is reviewing plans for July and may slash those flights as well.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway says services out of the Gold Coast will be affected the most. The company currently operates 21 return flights per week between Queensland and Japan, flying from the Gold Coast and Cairns.

"While a lot of Australians are travelling to Japan ... the market is around 85 per cent Japanese nationals, so we've had to adjust our capacity to accommodate what's been quite a dramatic slip in patronage," he said.

"We're reviewing July, and it's likely we'll need to adjust capacity in July as well."

Jetstar will lose 31 return services on the Queensland-Japan route in June through a mixture of cancelling and consolidating flights.

"For example, flights will go from the Gold Coast to Cairns then Japan, rather than going direct from the Gold Coast and Cairns each day to Tokyo," Mr Westaway said.

"That means the Gold Coast customers will be leaving a little bit earlier and stopping in Cairns for an hour before flying out for Tokyo."

Jetstar's daily service between the Gold Coast and Osaka, a region hit hard by swine flu, will also be pared back.

"On a number of days we won't be flying that service, but most people are moving in groups, and it usually means moving the group out of Japan to the next day," Mr Westaway said.

Mr Westaway said a rebound in services should be rapid once worries over swine flu have passed.

"If we look at SARS, what occurred was a significant slump in demand but then a pretty fast ramp-up once the uncertainty played through," he said.

"So we are anticipating a return to normalcy in coming months, but that's a very big call to make, obviously."

- AAP