(Photo: Jetstar Pacific)Hanoi(VNA) – Low-cost airline Jetstar Pacific announced on September 6 that it will cancelfour additional flights to Japan on September 7 and 8 due to the super TyphoonJebi, which is ravaging Japan and has forced Kansai International Airport inthe west to close for repair.
The cancelled flightsare BL164 from Da Nang to Osaka and BL621 from Osaka to Hanoi on September 7;as well as BL620 from Hanoi to Osaka and BL165 from Osaka to Da Nang onSeptember 8.
Earlier, onSeptember 5, Jetstar Pacific had announced that it would suspend all servicesto/from Osaka until the end of September 6. The budget airline will continue tocancel these four flights – namely BL620 and BL621 between Hanoi and Osaka, andBL164 and BL165 connecting Da Nang and Osaka on September 5-6.
Passengers can keeptrack of updates or seek support via Jetstar Pacific’s hotline 19001550.
Vietnam Airlines hasalso announced that it will cancel four more flights (VN330, VN331, VND320, andVN321) from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Osaka and vice versa.
The carrier hascancelled a total of 12 flights so far since September 4 due to the temporaryshutdown of the Osaka-based airport.
The airport, one ofJapan's transport hubs, is a key gateway to the Kansai region (which includes theprefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo) and has seen growing numbers of foreigntravelers from Asia in recent months.
Over 200 flightswere canceled on September 5 due to the airport closure, affecting over 30,000people.
All Nippon AirwaysCo. has stopped selling tickets for flights to/from the Kansai airport untilnext Tuesday and Japan Airlines Co. has decided to add extra flights viaanother transport hub, Narita airport near Tokyo.
On a typical day,around 80,000 travelers use the Kansai airport – which is rising with thegrowing travel demand from foreign travelers flying budget airlines.
At one point onSeptember 5, more than 5,000 people were stranded after a tanker smashed into abridge linking the airport and the mainland of Osaka Prefecture. Many of themwere transported away from the airport by high-speed boats.
Domestic flights atthe typhoon-damaged Kansai International Airport in western Japan will resumeFriday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on September 6.
Internationalflights will also restart as soon as the airport in Osaka is ready, Abe told ameeting held at his office. The previous day, airport officials had said thatit may take about a week to fully reopen the airport if there is serious damageto its runways and facilities.
Jebi is thestrongest storm to hit Japan in 25 years after a super typhoon attacked thecountry in 1993 and left 48 people dead and missing. It landed in Japan onSeptember 4 and caused serious flooding in Kansai airport.–VNA
VNA
