Qantas Airways Ltd
(ASX:QAN) budget offshoot, Jetstar says that it is starting to see signs of a recovery in the Japanese travel market, with the airline saying it believes the worst of the swine flu has passed.
According to a report in the Australian, the airline is expects a significant reduction in the amount of cuts it has to make to services in August and is hopeful it will return to normal schedules as confidence returns to the market.
The paper quotes spokesman Simon Westaway saying it looks like the worst is over in terms of customer sentiment from the Japanese consumer and the Australian market.
Mr Westaway says Jetstar is running a full schedule out of cairns and the Gold Coast, with one or two flights a week triangulated through to cairns and on to Japan, with the company continuing to monitor the situation.
Qantas’ 2008 net profit was close to $1 billion.
