Virgin Australia axes daily Cairns to Tokyo flight route after reduced visitor numbers

Experts say a number of key factors forced Virgin Australia to cut its daily flights from Cairns to Tokyo.

Virgin Australia staff members Jess Thomas and Mel Cressey at Cairns Airport promoting Cairns to Haneda Airport flights in 2023. Picture: Brendan Radke

Virgin Australia will cut daily flight operations from Cairns to Tokyo on the back of reduced visitor numbers, but a Cairns academic says the call is not cause for wider concern.

The airline confirmed it would cease operating the once-daily flight between Cairns and Tokyo, Haneda, from February 24, 2025, citing a decrease of inbound visitors from Japan.

James Cook University Associate Professor for Tourism and Hospitality management Denis Tolkach said the major decrease in tourist numbers was largely due to global economic factors.

“Japan’s economy has been weak for a long time, same as Australia and around the world,” Prof Tolkach said.

“There’s a cost of living crisis so people are being careful of their budget and Australia, besides (cost) of flights is expensive to travel to, especially for the Japanese market.”

Prof Tolkach said Cairns, and Australia still had a lot to offer Japanese visitors, however many tourists would be thinking with their hip pockets.

Virgin Australia will cease daily flight operations from Cairns to Tokyo in February from February 25, 2025. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

“We need to consider how or what we can do to attract Japanese tourists to Cairns in comparison to Bali or Phuket because if tourists are worried about budget, those cities become more interesting,” he said.
“If they want the cultural experience, Australia is still quite a unique destination with wildlife, First Nations culture and of course, the Great Barrier Reef.”

While he conceeded the loss of the flight route was a worry, Prof Tolkach said a bigger concern was the growing appeal of cheaper holiday destinations.

“I think it’s more about how the Japanese economy will work and whether Cairns will stay competitive,” he said.
“Because there’s so many different options to go on holidays, that’s the bigger risk than the withdrawal of one airline.”

Virgin Australia chief transformation and strategy officer Alistair Hartley apologised to customers impacted by the route cancellation.

“Our international network continues to be a central part of our strategy,” Mr Hartley said. “Withdrawing from Cairns-Tokyo services was a tough decision, but unfortunately the recovery of inbound visitors from Japan is significantly below forecast and therefore operating our own service to Tokyo is no longer commercially viable.”

Virgin Australia Chief Transformation and Strategy Officer Alistair Hartley confirmed the withdrawal of daily flights between Cairns and Tokyo, Haneda from February 2025. Picture Glenn Hampson

The airline blamed slow recovery of inbound visitors from Japan, now sitting 35 per cent below pre-Covid levels, for the route’s cancellation.

The airline first launched its Cairns-Tokyo, Haneda services in June 2023.

Sustained weakness in the Japanese Yen had impacted demand for the services, rendering the route commercially unsustainable, according to Virgin Australia.

Tourism Tropical North Queensland had undertaken extensive marketing and PR activities in the Japanese market to support direct routes into Cairns chief executive Mark Olsen said.

Virgin Australia staff members Jess Thomas and Mel Cressey at Cairns Airport promoting Cairns to Haneda Airport flights in 2023. Picture: Brendan Radke

“Through the International Tourism Recovery Program funding from the federal government, TTNQ has rolled out numerous industry campaigns to drive demand on the Haneda service to Cairns,” Mr Olsen said.

Mr Olsen said the campaign had delivered more than $5.6m in direct sales over 10,600 passengers since the service began last year.

“It is disappointing that market conditions in Japan have impacted the Haneda service, but Japan remains a key market for Tropical North Queensland, and we will continue to work closely with our partners to support inbound travel from Tokyo and Osaka,” he said.

Despite the route withdrawal the Virgin Australia boss said a strong partnership with Japanese carrier, All Nippon Airlines, had been maintained.

“We have a strong partnership with All Nippon Airways which will allow us to continue to support inbound tourism from Japan to Australia and through to popular tourist destinations like Far North Queensland,” Mr Hartley said.

Virgin Australia will redeploy its Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft that currently operate Cairns-Tokyo services into the existing domestic schedule.

Originally published as Virgin Australia axes daily Cairns to Tokyo flight route after reduced visitor numbers