IT was out with the old and in with the new at Cairns airport yesterday with the departure of Jetstar's first new Japan flight, taking off where Qantas left off.

A mock sumo wrestler and flight attendants dressed in kimonos welcomed the new Jetstar era as the much-hyped first flight to Tokyo's international airport at Narita took off at 12.05pm yesterday, with both airline executives and Far Northern tourism leaders on board.

The new daily Cairns-Narita service will be the Far North’s only direct link to Japan, following cutbacks to Qantas routes.

Jetstar group general manager customer service and airports, Mark Dal Pra, was bullish about the future of the Japan-Cairns route.

"So far we’ve got some very promising loads coming up. Our first service coming back into Australia is fully loaded," Mr Dal Pra said.

"We’ve put a lot of effort into the market in Tokyo and we’re spending over $30 million this year marketing ourselves in Tokyo.

"We’re doing a lot to promote these services and drive more tourists into Far North Queensland."

The new Jetstar service is expected to offer about 2100 seats direct to Cairns each week. Mr Dal Pra said Jetstar had made an effort to adapt to the Japanese market, including providing Japanese-speaking cabin crew and a code-sharing agreement with Japan Airlines on the Cairns-Tokyo route.

While the new service offers 60 per cent fewer seats than when Qantas and Jetstar provided links to western Japan and Osaka, Mr Dal Pra said this would be offset by a Gold Coast connection.

"We’ve got three per week services via the Gold Coast on the good days of the week so Far North Queensland can still attract tourism from western Japan," he said. Mr Dal Pra said bookings for early 2009 were ahead of expectation.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland chief executive Rob Giason, who flew to Tokyo yesterday, also was keen to talk up Jetstar services.

Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Matt Hingerty said the extra services could not have come at a better time.

"Recently the Japanese inbound market has struggled," he said. "We can’t expect to grow a market if we don’t have the spare capacity to carry the extra tourists."

Share this article