(The original article in Japanese was posted on April 30, 2021)

 

On April 24, the total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses exceeded one billion in the world. The U.K. and Israel are likely to reach the herd immunity. Nevertheless, in the entire world, the number of new cases of infection per day was 710,000 and that of deaths per day was over 10,000 on April 26. The situation is even more serious in India where new variants have been spreading like wildfire. The number of monthly deaths hit a record high in this April in Brazil. These worst circumstances are occurring not only in developing countries. On April 24, Germany introduced uniform regulations throughout the country beyond the state discretion for the first time. Moreover, a nighttime curfew has been in effect in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The U.S. boosted the ‘Do Not Travel’ advisory list to about 80% of countries worldwide, considering the current situation to be “unprecedented risk to travelers.” The demand for “people’s travel” is still far from the recovery. Tourism industry and aviation industry have been in a race against the time. On the other hand, in this adversity, preparation for the future has started.

Japan Airlines Co., Ltd. (JAL) announced that the company would make Spring Airlines Japan Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of Spring Airlines Co., Ltd., a Chinese low-cost carrier) its consolidated subsidiary. JAL will use a part of the funds amounting to some 180 billion yen, raised through a public offering in November 2020, as a strategic investment for the post-COVID-19 society.

Also, All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. (ANA) is accelerating structural reform of the whole group and optimization of aviation business focusing on the profitability including flight route sharing with Peach Aviation Limited (Peach). Featured is a non-aviation sector.

In this April, the business of ANA Sales Co., Ltd. was spilt into two companies. The platform business utilizing customer data accumulated through the travel business will be operated by the new company, ANA X Inc., and the aviation sales and regional revitalization business utilizing 33 branch offices in Japan will be operated by the other new company, ANA Akindo Co., Ltd., aiming to strengthen those businesses.

Preparation for the post-COVID-19 society is becoming active in different fields. On April 1, “Regional Revitalization and Inbound Tourism Council^*1,” established in October 2018, made a new start as a General Incorporated Association. The Council has been led by ANA Strategic Research Institute Co., Ltd. We, Yano Research Institute, Ltd. also joined the Council at the time of establishment and we were granted a role of the corporate controller when the Council became an incorporated association. The Council is constituted of following members: 58 companies supporting local revitalization in various industries including not only tourism but also construction, finance, media, entertainment, and arts, and 33 local governments / organizations. In this first year after becoming the incorporation of the council, the Council is planning to share the specialized knowledge, provide the opportunities for the members to interact with each other, and create new businesses through open innovation. We will be pleased if any companies who are interested in our business participate in the Council.

As mentioned above, the coronavirus pandemic is still an “unprecedented risk” and a threat to our lives as well as the biggest obstacle in economic activities. In Japan, where the third state of emergency has been issued, social activities have been restricted and medical settings have been faced with the serious crisis. Looking at these real situations, it can be said that holding the Tokyo 2020 Olympic / Paralympic Games is an antisocial behavior disrespecting healthcare professionals all over the world. Tokyo should contribute to the “minimization of risks” in the world. Decision of cancelling the Olympics should be made as soon as possible not to destroy the public interest of the Olympics and the brand value of Tokyo so we could make the society move forward.

 

*1: Regional Revitalization and Inbound Tourism Council: https://www.inbound-council.com/

 

This Week’s Focus, April 30, 2021

Takashi Mizukoshi, the President