ANA Collaborates with Vietnam Airlines

ANA Invests in Vietnam Airlines

Compiled from the Yomiuri Shimbun, 12 January 2016

ANA Holdings, a parent com;pany of All Nippon Airways,  announced on January 12 that the company and Vietnam AIrlines reached to an agreement in capital and business collaboration to be signed.

ANA will acquire about 8.8% of the issued stocks of Vietnam Airlines for JPY13 billion (USD111 million)  by coming summer. Upon agreement of alliances that respective companies are members, the two airlines will start code share and other airport services joint operations from October at earliest and also start joint service in mileage programs. ANA will send  its representative to the board of directors of Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines has been collaborating with Japan Airlines but it will cease its relations with JAL after this new tie up with ANA.

Passenger traffic between Japan and Vietnam is on the rise these years and ANA

hopes to see a further business demand between the two countries as Trans Pacific Partnership will take effect soon.

Vietnam Airlines operates a total of 66 flights every week in  ten routes; Hanoi-Haneda (weekly 7 flights), -Narita (weekly 7 flights), Chubu (weekly 7 flights) and Fukuoka (four flights a week); from Ho Chi Minh to Narita (14 flights), Kansai (7 flights), Chubu (4 flights) and Fukuoka (twice a week) and from Danang to Narita (weekly 7 flights).

While ANA flies daily in Narita-Ho Chi Minh and Haneda-Hanoi routes. ANA Holdings says the load factor for both routes are kept somewhere 70 to 80 %.

Vietnam Airlines will become the second recipient of capital investment by ANA following Asiana of the South Korea that ANA holds 0.63% of the stocks.■

Wedding in Sky? ANA offers a plan.....

ANA Sells Flying Wedding from/to Fukuoka

from Aviation Wire, December 5, 2015

ANA Holdings, a holding company of a major Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways, offers a flying wedding on board a charter flight through its subsidiary called ANA Sales. At present, the offer is for only once and the date is fixed on March 26, 2016 departing and arriving Fukuoka International Airport.  Only one married couple can get the chance. When many applications arrive, ANA will choose the lucky couple by drawing.

ANA will fly its own Boeing 737-500 (monoclass 126 seats) operated by ANA Wings. Its planned schedule is as follows: bride and gloom with their family attendants should be arriving at Fukuoka Airport by noon and the flight departs the airport at 1 pm; a ceremony will take place while 1.5-hr flight. Then, wedding party will take place on ground at reserved party place around 5 pm.

ANA will accept applications until December 11. The cost is JPY4.8 million (USD 40,000) that includes the charter flight, drinks and meals for up to 60 guests, wedding dressrental, photography, courtesy bus drive, MC and coordinating, ANA says.

ANA Group conducted flying wedding in October 2013 on another charter flight from/to Chubu International (Centrair) Airport.■

Japan Develops Emergency Aircraft Divert System For Next Major Earthquakes

Anticipating Next Big Earthquakes, Japan Develops Automatic Stand-by Landing Airport Designation System

Compiled from Sankei Shimbun and Mainichi Shimbun, both released on August 27 2015

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) has introduced a new aviation support system to advise alternative landing airports for commercial airliners in the air for the event of large earthquake may stop operations of the original airports in Japan.

1. The system will inform each aircraft of a candidate landing place individually and immediately judging from remaining fuel and other factors. This system, called Emergency Divert Flight Operations Support, will be tested in current fiscal year that will end on March 31, 2016.
2. The East Japan Great Earthquake of 2011 had forced closing  both of Tokyo’s main airports, Haneda and Narita, at once and a total of 86 aircraft heading for there had to alter destinations. Among them, 14 aircraft, as their remaining fuel was too low, declared emergency, calling for quick reactions from the ground, according to MLIT.
3. Current system takes longer time and manpower as the ground control has to ask fuel remaining for each aircraft by voice radio while checking the conditions of alternative airport for any damage by telephone.
4. However, the new system will calculate the remaining fuel volume from the original fuel amount at take-off and the location of the aircraft when a natural disaster occurs.  As each airport will input its damage report to the system, it will divert each aircraft to most appropriate airport with consideration of priority  while the information will be shared with airline companies.
5. MLIT, with assumption of the worst case, a simultaneous earthquakes of Nankai Trough and Tokyo Direct Hit happening on noon of a weekday when air traffic over Japan reaches its peak.  MLIT’s simulation assumed eight airports from Narita to Miyazaki will be closed at once. This simulation showed 133 aircraft would be in the air that will need immediate traffic control.

IHI Hopes to Start Commercial Production of Biofuel More Efficiently

IHI advances on biofuel commercial production by mastering volume production of Algae

Compiled from ZUU online 2015/5/22 14:20

IHI (Tokyo Stock Exchange code: 7013) announced on May 22 that the heavy-industrial manufacturer  succeeded in large-size culture of algae for biofuel production.  Algae has been taken attention for its potentiality to be converted to jet fuel and other companies such Euglena that tries to extract fuel from euglena and JX Holdings are moving forward to commercial production of biofuel, making the market more vibrant and competitive.

IHI revealed its volume culture technology has been developed jointly with Kobe National University and Chitose Laboratory as a commissioned program entrusted by NEDO (New Energy Development Organization) under the title of ‘Strategic Future Biomass energy Utilization Technology Development.’  According to the company press release, they succeeded in volume culture of Botryococcus braunii that generates hydrocarbon oil as alternative fuel with higher growth rate.

As for development of new types of biofuel, it has been said to keep culturing of those algae including euglena that generate oily stuff while ensuring continuous and stable manners by conditions of their culture. Euglena company, for example, is reportedly devising more active photonic synthesis by blowing carbon dioxide into a culture pool.

IHI announced that the joint research group has succeeded in stable culture of algae with only photonic synthesis  at its test facility centering on a culture pond as wide as 1,500 square meters in Kagoshima, southern part of Japan. As the previous culture called for sugar as nutrition of algae, they might have moved forward in R&D.

IHI will further move  ahead to lower fuel production cost by improvement of the whole processes  for anticipation of doing business by this technology in other countries, according to the statement.　

（END)

Japan Nears to Develop its own Fifth-generation Fighter

F-3 will become Japan’s First Indigenous Fighter Jet in Post-WW2 Years

compiled from SANKEI Shimbun online, March 17, 2015

keywords: Fifth-generation Fighter; F-3; ATD-X; HSE

Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) has confirmed its policy to develop a new stealth fighter plane, temporarily called F-3, to replace current F-2 in Japan’s Air Self-defense Force as it sees the development of a powerful powerplant is enough feasible. This means that Japan is able to produce a high performance fighter by its own technologies. Still eying the possibility of joint development with U.S., Japan has taken a step closer to develop world-class indigenous fifth-generation fighter jets. This project will become a big project and  have far-reaching effects to not only national security but also economy, diplomacy and others.

The new engine for the new fighter with 15-ton thrust is called High-Power Slim Engine (HSE) and will be developed jointly by IHI and Defense Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI) based on a prototype engine, XF5, that propels down-sclaed Advanced Technical Demonstrator (ATD-X). ATD-X will start flight test from the summer of 2015. The first unit of HSE for demonstration will be complete by 2018.

Manufacturing of 15-ton class jet engine for fighters calls for higher level of engineering and only a few companies, such as Pratt & Whitney, General Electric and Rolls-Royce can do it. Engine supply was a choking point for Japan to develop its indigenous fighter planes so far: without the supply of engines from U.S., it was just a drawings on paper. Once Japan tried to develop its own domestic fighter in F-2 project, it turned out to be a joint program with U.S. Should HSE really comes true, Japan finally will be able to assemble its truly indigenous fighters.

Higher thrust calls for higher temperature  of engine combustion. ATD-X carries two 5-ton class ‘demonstration engines’; temperature within the engines would climb as high as 1,600C. HSE would increase this temperature to 1,800C. The key technologies to achieve this is high-temperature withstanding materials such as single-crystal alloy and cooling of core parts of engines such as compressor, combustor, and high-pressure turbines where Japan’s unique technologies would be applied.

Engines for fifth-generation fighters call for smaller diameter but higher thrust while keeping its stealthiness. Thrust of HSE will be three times larger than ATD-X demonstrator’s engine but HSE’s diameter will be 70 centimeters while ATD-X’s is one-meter size.

In the mean time, ATD-X will commence its flight test sometime in summer of this year. A set of new technologies are planned at flight tests such as advanced stealthiness, high agile maneuverability to alter the direction of the airframe while flying straight by computer-controlled engine thrust vectors. Gathering of data would be a basis of the development of F-3 and its development plans would be formulated by 2018. When everything goes as scheduled, F-3 would be deployed by 2018.

‘F-3 would become a big turning point in Japanese aviation industry. Japan already has superior technological edges for stealth aircraft such as airframe structures, materials, peripheries of engine,’ told Akira Sato, Vice Minister of Defense when he was asked of what he expected to the development of F-3.

Even though Japan did produce certain types of military aircraft during the WW2 including Zero fighter, it was prohibited to produce any aircraft under the occupation years and its aviation industry virtually was dismantled, making aviation technologies of this country lag so much behind the world trend.

Previous examples of Japan’s works are F-2, which was jointly developed with U.S. based on the design of F-16, and F-1 of which have all retired already; both types were developed as support fighters at the beginning to intercept enemy invasion ships and partly incoming unfriendly aircraft of other countries. As for its capability to deal with fighter-to-fighter, F-2 is less powerful than Mitsubishi/Boeing F-15, the mainstay fighter type to defend Japan’s airspace.

However, F-3 is intended to achieve superior performance than the latest fighter jets of other countries in air battle.

Fighter jets are often referred to symbolize the level of aviation technologies and engineering of respective countries.  After 70 years of void, Japan has come to materialize its own fighter jet for the first time; F-3 may lead to revival of Japanese aviation industry as ‘historical turning point.’

Development of F-3 will contribute to Japan’s home economy by creating new demands. ‘As over 1,000 companies would be involved in development of a new fighter jet, its economic impact is tremendous. We will see increased employment and emergence of new technologies,’  Sato said.

Total size of procurement of F-3 may reach to 100, almost equivalent with the number of F-2 that will be retiring in coming years. MoD estimates JPY 500 to 800 billion (4.2 to 6.7 billion dollars) for the development of the new fighter jets. However, this does not include other costs of the production, retrofit upgrading, and disposal after its service life is over. MoD’s estimate in 2009 as Life Cycle Cost of 100 F-2s was JPY 3.352 trillion (28 billion dollars).

MoD’s latest calculation goes ahead: when the national budget of JPY4 trillion  (33 billion dollars) for procurement of 100 F-3s, it would create direct demands at aviation industry as much as JPY 6.9 trillion, followed by increased consumptions by more affordable employees and their families of the relevant business worth JPY1.4 trillion, leading to its overall economic effect to JPY 8.3 trillion (70 billion dollars) and employment creation for 240 thousand people.

Fallen Skymark

Why Skymark Airlines, Japan’s 3rd largest, Was Forced to File Bankruptcy

29 January 2014

Skymark Airlines, the third largest airline in Japan, will file bankruptcy according to Japan's civil rehabilitation processes. The airline will maintain its scheduled flights for time being while rebuilding its business.  This is the second case of airline bankruptcy after Japan Airlines in 2010.

1. The total debts of Skymark Airlines are reportedly amounting over JPY100 billion (USD 850 million), including penalty of USD700 million billed by Airbus for cancellation of A380s.
2. Yomiuri Shimbun cited two major faults that forced Skymark to bankruptcy.
3. First, its ambition to enter international routes, Skymark tried to purchase six-fleet of A380 with JPY190 billion, two times as large as its annual revenue. The decision was strongly asserted by Shinichi Nishikubo, President and CEO who owns 30% stake in the company, according to reports. But after all, cash-hungry Skymark was unable to pay the bills from Airbus and ultimately Skymark was charged of a penalty worth USD700 million.
4. Second, Skymark introduced  Airbus A330 (271 seats). Compared with Boeing 737 that the airline has been using , A330 is bigger in capacity but also bigger in expenses. With LCCs behind, Skymark tried to catch up with leading Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways by means of differentiated services such as all-business class cabin and short-skirt clad flight attendants but its yield was not growing to match with huge investment and the investment itself was not realistic with its own management capacity.
5. With the sudden announcement in the evening of January 28, Skymark also told its reshuffle of management officers. Shinichi Nishikubo stepped down from its top officer seat. Tokyo Local Court,
6. Skymark holds 36 slots at Haneda (Tokyo) International Airport, a highly lucrative asset that other airlines may be attracted.  It was business strategy of Nishikubo to hold its third place in airline business in Japan by launching code sharing with Japan Airlines and ANA altogether that never took place after all.
7. With its cash dwindling day by day, once JPY30 billion was just JPY4.5, Skymark had no other choice but filing bankruptcy. That was a departure from its original policy to maintain business independence.

Chinese Warships Made Around-Japan Cruise

compiled from Yomiuri Shimbun, 28 December 2014

Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced today that four ships belonging to Chinese Navy cruised from the Tsushima Strait to the East China Sea.

None of these ships violated the territorial sea of Japan. These ships went to the Pacific Ocean by passing the Osumi Strait down south of Kyushu on December 4, then went into the Soya Strait in the north on December 25, circling around Japan and the Ministry has been watching the movement of the ships.

Joint Staff of the Ministry confirmed that four ships consisting of destroyers, frigate and supply ship passed through the Tsushima Strait after completing replenishment exercise in the Pacific Ocean.  Previously, Chinese navy did navigate around Japan in July 2013 for the first time.

Japan is carefully examining the implications of these Chinese naval movements.

E-2C Goes to South: from Misawa to Naha to counter with Chinese threats

compiled from report by the Sankei Shimbun, 25 November 2014 and others

Air Self-Defense Force's E-2C

In last April, a ‘moving’ took place from Misawa Airbase , Aomori to Naha Base, Okinawa of Air Self Defense Force (ASDF).  Four E-2Cs airborne early warning  originally stationed in Misawa flew to Naha to inaugurate the 603rd early-warning squadron.

The new 603rd squadron could not be born without the China.

On December 13, 2012, a Chinese Y-12 turboprop belonging to Chinese National Oceanic Administration violated the Japanese air space nearby Senkaku Islands. However, ASDF’s ground-based radars could not detect this small utility aircraft. It was after being told by a patrol craft of Japan Coast Guard when ASDF launched  F-15s and E-2C for intercepting. It was a big shame for the officials of Japanese air force that they could not tolerate.

Some E-2Cs were stationed at Naha on rotation basis as Tokyo previously declared ‘nationalization’ of the islands in September of that year but the case called for a need to beef up air defense in the south.  E-767 AWACS were sent from Hamamatsu, central Japan to Okinawa for air space watch and surveillance.

Before and after 2012, the frequency of air scrambling was greatly changed: what it used to be around 20 cases in a year was increased to around 250 in 2012 alone. Tension around southwest of Japan has been constantly running higher by such incidents as more Chinese flights in the area, sometimes too close flying to Japanese military aircraft as well as Beijing’s announcement to impose Air Defense Identification Zone that covers the islands. Then, the 603rd was born with 4 E-2Cs.

E-2C is called airborne radar site as it can detect and track many bogies and send locations of them to ground stations and flying friendly aircraft. Also, it can be airborne faster than E-767 AWACS.

It was 1983 when ASDF took delivery of E-2C; it was after another disturbing event happened to Air Force.  That event was when a MiG-25 landed forcibly on Hakodate Airport as the pilot, Viktor Belenko attempted defection to the west. ASDF chased the aircraft but missed before it landed as ground based radars were not able to detect a low flying beyond the horizon. Then it was decided to acquire E-2C to fill in the gap of this radar detection.

During the previous cold war days, E-2Cs were stationed in the north to watch for Russians and now they are in Okinawa to watch the southern sky indicating a change of threats to Japan today.

Japan recently decided to purchase E-2D Advanced Hawkeye to replace E-2C.

Mitsubishi Wants to Get Hal of Global Market for Regional Jets:

MRJ Rolls Out: Mitsubishi is bullish to capture a half of global regional jets market

Compiled from TOYO KEIZAI On-line, October 19, 2014

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries rolled out MRJ at its Komaki South Plant on October 18. The aircraft, first unit for flight test, is the newest regional jet in market and Mitsubishi intends to start the first delivery in 2017 by starting flight testing by the second quarter of 2015.

MRJ is being developed by Mitsubishi Aircraft, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy, as regional jet  for 70 to 90-seat class. The aircraft is the second indigenous passenger aircraft after YS-11, a turboprop smaller civilian passenger aircraft which flew in 1962.

MHI formally started MRJ development in 2008 but it faced three times of delay and managed to complete the first unit for flight test.

Here is an excerpt of interview by TOYO KEIZAI online of Teruaki Kawai, President of Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation on MRJ’s development processes and marketing.

You managed to complete the first MRJ for flight testing at last.

It was six years ago when MHI decided to develop the aircraft by launching Mitsubishi Aircraft. We came a long way to show the aircraft to public from nothing. However, only half of the development work is complete now; we will face the real challenge soon.

The next turning point will be flight testing scheduled sometime in the second quarter of the next year.

Development so far has been conducted on the ground, or it has been a kind of simulation. Some factors can be confirmed on the ground but after all nobody knows the real stuff until it flies. By results of flight test, we may change some of the design or its systems.

Time schedule of MRJ so far was delayed three times. You have outlined target of the first delivery at the first half of 2017. Can you realize this schedule?　

I believe it can be realized. We must keep the schedule by any means. Repeated delays have caused a lot of inconvenience to our customers including launch customer ANA. We are not allowed to delay the schedule further as our customers are anxious to fly our product for their own business.

Development of a new passenger aircraft calls for national certification after verifying its safety based on a vast amount of data.One of causes for repeated delay was that you have been stuck at that work.

Certification is the hardest challenge in new aircraft development. We had little know-how and experience in proving the safety and we are having a hard time, yes.  Then we signed a contract with a foreign consulting firm which has many clients at passenger aircraft development and the firm are giving us a lot of advice.

So far the order for MRJ is 223 for confirmed order and 407 including booking. How do you view this ?

Mitsubishi is a newcomer in passenger aircraft business. In spite of this, it is fair to say this level of order before flight test is a good success. This year, we have reached agreement with Japan Airlines in August and we got formal order from Eastern Air Lines.

We think it is very significant for us to see JAL’s decision. Now as the two major airlines in Japan have endorsed our product, MRJ would take more attention in overseas market.

For regional jets below 100 seats, Embraer and Bombardier are major players while Russian Sukhoi and Chinese COMAC are developing new aircraft respectively.

Frankly, I don’t believe Russian and Chinese are major competitors. Bombardier is shifting to larger airframe of over 100 seats and its new CSeries doesn’t compete MRJ in the same market. For smaller regional jets below 100 seats will probably become an arena of one-on-one battle between Embraer and Mitsubishi.

That Embraer has announced a new aircraft E2 series with the same engine for MRJ last year and it already adding new order steadily.　

It would be Embraer’s counterplan for MRJ. E2 is based on existing airframe changing wings and engines; it would be superior than existing models but cannot be free from restrictions based on the current design.

On the other hand, MRJ is a clean sheet design to fully utilize Pratt & Whitney's newest engine.  E2 may close the gap but MRJ still keeps its advantage in fuel efficiency and others.

What Embraer has and Mitsubishi has not is proven results as passenger aircraft assembler. Some airlines may say skeptically, ‘Can Mitsubishi guys really do it as they say about advantages of MRJ?’

To wipe out such anxiety, MRJ’s development must go forward very steadily. When we start flight test, we will be able to convince them more with actual data of fuel efficiency.

How many aircraft do you foresee to sell or how about market share goal?

We forecast around 5,000 new aircraft demand of regional jets below 100 seats in coming 20 years. At present, U.S. and Europe are major marketplaces but we anticipate Asia and Latin America will have more demands. We aim at capture a half of global demands by ourselves, at least in spirit.

You have other kind of challenges such as setting up of series production in addition to airframe development.

Exactly. We need a lot of preparatory works in passenger jet business.

To name a few, we need to build customer support system in addition to full production flows as well as finance menu for our customers. MHI as a group will manage all these preparations.■

Volcano Erupts and Air Traffic Affected in Central Japan

Ontakesan Volcano Erupts Affecting Aviation in Central Japan

Ontakesan　before and after: June 2014, left and September 27.

Ontakasan volcano erupted at 11:53 Japan Standard Time, September 27. Located at borders of Nagano and Gifu prefectures, the mountain, 3,067 meters or 10,060 ft. has been inactive for the first time since the last eruption in 1979.

Some of domestic and international flights planned to fly over nearby airspace in central part of Honshu island has been diverted including Jetstar flights from Australia to Narita Tokyo which landed on Kansai International Airport.

Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways have altered flight routes respetively causing some delay in specific flights.

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism issued a NOTAM in Sunday afternoon calling for attention to aircraft to fly nearby the mounting as volcano smoke might be ascending to altitude as high as 8,000 meters (26,000 ft.). Pilots who flew closer to the volcano reported they had seen smoke rising to 4,500 meters (14,760 ft.)

Ontakesan is located closer to flight routes between Tokyo Haneda airport and Hokuriku region, as well as Chubu International Airport and Hokkaido/Tohoku regions. As some flights had to divert their normal routes, they flew longer for 30 minutes or so on that day.

As of Monday morning, authorities were trying to rescue those left mountain climbers by helicopters and other means. At least four people were found dead, 16 others were critical. The mountain is a popular climbing spot and there were over 200 people were believed to be there over the last weekend. Effective immediately after the eruption, meteorological authority issued an alert and asked no one to approach the spot.

JAL Selects MRJ for Local Domestic Routes

First MRJ under final assembly in June 2014. (PHOTO  Mitsubishi Aircraft)

NIKKEI web-edition reported on August 28 that Japan Airlines has chosen MRJ, regional jets under development by Mitsubishi Aircraft.  

JAL will introduce MRJ to its domestic destinations from 2021 by replacing aging feeder fleet.  Fuel efficient, MRJ is expected to lower fuel bills for JAL while bringing with more flexibility to adjust flexibility of operations by seasonal change, thus reinvigorating JAL’s local network that once shrunk during the carrier’s corporate rehabilitation processes.

JAL will introduce 32 MRJs, billed about JPY 150 billion (USD 1.4 billion) by catalog price. The fleet will be based at Osaka Itami Airport for operations by its subsidiary J-Air that currently flying both Bombardier and Embraer small aircraft.

MRJ, either 70- or 90-seat,  will  become commercially available in 2017 according to Mitsubishi Aircraft. Applying with more composite materials and GTF engines, MRJ has a target of fuel consumption lower by 10 to 20 percent than today’s counterparts.

ANA, the launch customer of MRJ, has ordered 25 previously.

Mitsubishi Aircraft received order for 375  MRJs including options. Adding 32 more from JAL, Mitsubishi will mark over 400 orders that is said to be break-even point for MRJ development and production. Further, expectations of cost reduction by volume production may accelerate its marketing in overseas markets. ■

AirAsia Wants Skymark?

AirAsia Seeks Control of Skymark

2014/8/19 2:00

Nikkei on August 19 reported that AirAsia, the largest low cost carrier (LCC) in Asia is now studying to support struggling Skymark, Japan’s third largest carrier, hoping to acquire management control through its equity.

Skymark, now in business slump by competing a bunch of other emerging LCCs, has enough slots at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport and flights from/to Haneda are dubbed cash-cow routes.

Skymark’s destinations from Haneda effective late-October 2014:

• Sapporo
• Fukuoka
• Naha
• Kagoshima
• Kobe
• Ishigaki

Skymark had ordered six Airbus A380s to launch international services but the carrier failed to pay for the aircraft and finally Airbus terminated the contract that may lead to cancellation fees as close as USD700 million

AirAsia with its fleet of over 150 Airbus products, is a major customer of AIrbus and has started to sound the European aircraft maker if it is possible to reduce the amount of penalty to Skymark.

Japanese civil aviation regulations stipulate that a  non-Japanese carrier cannot hold over one third of voting right; AirAsia may acquire Skymark’s capital through its own subsidiary  registered in Japan.

Shinichi Nishikubo, Skymark’s CEO and president, said ‘Skymark is still looking for its survival by itself.’  He holds about 30% of Skymark stocks.

However, if the real control of Skymark would be shifted to non-Japanese ownership, it would be unclear whether Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism would approve the same slots at Haneda for a new company.■

Skymark on August 19 denied the Nikkei reporting and stated that the company was never contacted by AirAsia.