Japanese Airline Web Traffic Still Lags Pre-Pandemic Levels

Web traffic to top four Japanese airlines still 12% below pre-pandemic levels, but up over past two years; ANA takes traffic lead from JAL

Similarweb data shows web traffic to the four largest airlines serving Japan (Japan Airlines, ANA, flypeach and Jetstar) weakened in November 2022 versus October, but was up strongly over November 2021 and 2020. However, traffic was still 12% below November 2019, before the pandemic took hold.

Key takeaways:

• Aggregated web traffic data for four large airlines serving Japan (Japan Airlines, ANA, flypeach and Jetstar) rose 22% in November 2022, year over year, but was down 7% from October.  November traffic was up 33% over November 2020 (during the pandemic), but was still 12% below November 2019 (pre-pandemic).
• ANA took the web traffic lead from Japan Airlines (JAL) for the first time since February 2021, largely due to an 18% decline in web traffic to JAL in November 2022 (month over month) while ANA saw 5% growth. ANA had 14.6 million visitors to its webpage in November, narrowly edging out JAL with 14.5 million.
• In terms of market share, among the four airlines in this report, ANA led with 41.8%, followed by JAL at 41.6%, flypeach at 10.8% and Jetstar at 5.8%.
• Similarweb data on travel destinations suggests that the percentage of Japanese travelers staying domestically has increased in recent months, making up 94% of total Japanese travel bookings, up from an average of about 91% over the past three years. This is potentially driven by weakness in the Japanese Yen versus the U.S. dollar and other major currencies.

Aggregated traffic suggests demand strength with less seasonality

Taking a look at Similarweb data on aggregated web traffic to the four largest airlines serving Japan, airlines hit a bit of a seasonal soft patch, following an uptick in web traffic in the summer. November saw a 7% decline in web traffic versus October, the second straight monthly decline, after October dipped 9% from September.

However, November was still strong versus the past two years, rising 22% versus 2021, and up 33% versus 2020.   The airlines used in the below chart include Japan Airlines, ANA, flypeach and Jetstar. November 2022 was still 12% below the web traffic seen in November 2019, showing that Japan air travel has not fully recovered from the pandemic.

Since potential travelers have to visit an airline’s website prior to making a trip, web traffic is a good indicator of demand in upcoming months.

ANA surpasses Japan Airlines in web traffic for the first time since February 2021

The chart below shows Similarweb data on monthly web traffic for each of the four airlines we looked at in this report. You can see that ANA surpassed Japan Airlines in monthly visits in November 2022, with 14.6 million, followed by JAL with 14.5 million, with third place flypeach well behind with 3.8 million visitors and fourth place Jetstar seeing 2.0 million visitors.  JAL took the lead over ANA back in February 2021, and had not lagged until November.

The change in relative market share came as JAL saw an 18% drop in monthly traffic in November, while ANA saw a 5% increase. The reason for this market share shift is likely more promotional activity at ANA, while JAL seems to have decreased its marketing spending during the month.

As a percentage of the group, ANA made up 41.8% of the four largest airlines serving Japan in November 2022, followed by Japan Airlines at 41.6%, flypeach at 10.8% and Jetstar at 5.8%. You can see the relative market shares (as represented by monthly web traffic) in the chart below.

Domestic traffic driving most air travel demand

Similarweb travel intelligence shows that 94% of all travel bookings out of Japan are domestic, with no region accounting for even 1% of total travel bookings from Japan. Thailand is the second largest secondary market, with just 0.8% of total Japanese travel bookings, followed by the U.S. with 0.6% and South Korea with 0.5%.

While Japan has historically had over 90% of its travel bookings domestically, this number has risen in recent months, likely due to the weakness of the Japanese Yen versus the U.S. dollar and some other major currencies.

The Similarweb Insights & Communications team is available to pull additional or updated data on request for the news media (journalists are invited to write to press@similarweb.com). When citing our data, please reference Similarweb as the source and link back to the most relevant blog post or similarweb.com/blog/insights/.

Methodology

Disclaimer: All data, reports and other materials provided or made available by Similarweb are based on data obtained from third parties, including estimations and extrapolations based on such data. Similarweb shall not be responsible for the accuracy of the materials and shall have no liability for any decision by any third party based in whole or in part on the materials.

by Jim Corridore

Senior Analyst

Jim provides insights across multiple sectors. With 30 years on Wall Street and numerous awards for stock-picking, he is a SUNY Albany graduate.