With the Chinese government advising against travel to Japan, consolidation flights between Japan's Kansai International Airport and China are expected to decrease by about 34%.
According to local media on the 1st, Kansai Airports, the operator of Kansai International Airport, said consolidation flights between Kansai Airport and China were reduced by about 34% in the second week of December.
Yamaya Yoshiyuki, president of Kansai Airports, said the same at a settlement of account briefing, adding, regarding the impact of China-Japan tensions on the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in February, "I don't know yet."
Initially, consolidation flights between Kansai International Airport and China were scheduled at 525 per week, but they are expected to drop to 348. An average reduction of about 28% is forecast for the first quarter of next year.
Earlier, on the 7th of last month, after Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hinted at intervention in the event of a Taiwan contingency, the Chinese government issued an advisory against travel to Japan.
There are no visible official efforts by the Japanese government to ease tensions with China. However, parts of the political and business communities are said to be working through unofficial channels to resolve the conflict. Kyodo News reported that leaders of the Japan-China Parliamentary Friendship Association, a cross-party group aimed at promoting friendship with China, including Yuko Obuchi, former head of the Liberal Democratic Party's election campaign committee, held a luncheon with Ambassador Wu Jianghao of China to Japan on the day.
The Japan-China Parliamentary Friendship Association has been exploring a visit to China within the year since around November and is reportedly pushing for a meeting with Liu Jianchao, Minister-level head of the International Department of the Communist Party of China.
Tsutsui Yoshinobu, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), met with Ambassador Wu Jianghao on the 28th of last month and requested that a Japanese business delegation visit Beijing in January next year, Kyodo News said.