oneworld has
announced a series of major initiatives to promote tourism and business travel to Japan to mark the
forthcoming addition to the grouping of Japan Airlines.JAL will join oneworld on 1 April, with five of its associated airlines boarding alongside it as affiliates -
JALways, Japan Asia Airways, JAL Express, J-AIR and Japan Transocean Air. On the same day,
Malév Hungarian and Royal Jordanian will start offering oneworld services and benefits too - in the
alliance’s biggest expansion since its launch eight years ago.
The drive to encourage more international visitors to fly to Japan was unveiled at a ceremony to
welcome JAL to oneworld, held in Tokyo and attended by the Chief Executives of all the
alliance’s existing airlines and new joiners, meeting in JAL’s home base for the first time since it was
elected on board the grouping.
The initiatives come under the umbrella of a new one-year exclusive partnership between oneworld
and the Visit Japan Campaign, led by Japan’s Ministry for Land, Infrastructure and Transportation
and through which the Japanese Government aims to double the number of foreign tourists
holidaying in the country - from around 5 million in 2003, when the campaign was originally launched,
to 10 million a year by 2010.
It means that this drive is now supported by an airline grouping carrying some 315 million
passengers a year on more than 9,000 flights a day from almost 700 destinations in 150 countries
worldwide, earning US$85 billion in revenues a year.
All ten airlines in the new oneworld line-up will participate in this programme. This is believed to be
the first time every airline in an alliance has been involved in an initiative of this kind anywhere in the
world.
Projects in support of the programme will vary by airline, but will include such activities such as
special fares for travel to Japan, frequent flyer incentives, promotions through in-flight videos and
magazines, mailings to frequent flyers and on websites, sponsorships, participation in trade shows,
links with tour operators and facility trips for travel professionals and journalists.
In addition, oneworld today launched a special alliance fare for travellers to the country - with the
Yokoso! Visit Japan pass the latest in its family of air passes offering great value flights on any of the
grouping’s members within the region in conjunction with international flights there.

Visiting Japan has been made easier and better value for international
travellers with the launch of the latest fare from oneworld - Yokoso Visit
Japan pass.

oneworld’s Yokoso Visit Japan pass offers flights serving 42 destinations throughout Japan, using the
unrivalled domestic network offered by Japan Airlines and JAL Express, J-AIR and Japan Transocean Air, the
three of the five affiliates joining oneworld alongside it which operate Japanese domestic services.
The pass can be used for up to five flights within a two-month period from the departure date of the first
Japanese domestic sector.
Each sector flown is charged at a standard JPY10,000 (approximately US$80). Customers need to stipulate
how many sectors they will need before they arrive in Japan, and book the first sector. The rest can be
confirmed during the trip. Available to anyone living outside Japan, the pass must be bought in conjunction
with an international flight with any of the oneworld airlines to the country.
Yokoso Visit Japan pass goes on sale from 1 April - when Japan Airlines, the biggest airline in the Asia Pacific
region, becomes the latest airline to join oneworld.
The alliance already offers its Visit passes for the rest of Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Australia
and New Zealand and Europe, enabling travellers to fly around each region using services by all the alliance’s
member airlines - and at fares offering savings of up to more than 50 per cent on many flights. oneworld is the
only airline alliance offering this kind of pass for all these continents.
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