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Vol.15 : Paul Sands (Virgin Atlantic Japan)
June 6, 2007
Abe faces stormy weather in run-up to July elections
Gov't plans net taxation on financial income
Unemployment hits 9-year low
Matsushita Electric in biggest-ever recall
Expanded coverage: Businessmen switch ties for leis
hub：拠点
island hop：島を巡航する
latch on to：興味を惹かれる
in-flight entertainment：機内エンターテインメント
across the board：全体的に
go off the beaten track：一般的な方法を外れて
itinerary：旅程
（ PS: Paul, PB: Peter ）
| PB : |
How many destinations does Virgin fly to out of Japan now? |
| PS : |
Out of Japan, we just have a daily service to London.
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| PS : |
But that connects on with our own services or with our partners to, well, you know, dozens and dozens of destinations. |
| PB : |
Right and are you flying - do all of your flights originate out of London or do you have flights from one foreign country to another foreign country, from the point of your - being an English company? |
| PS : |
Yeah. Well, very much the hub is the UK.
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| PS : |
We do actually have a few flights that go on, so for example our flight that goes to Hong Kong then goes on from Hong Kong to Sydney.
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| PS : |
We also have some flights in the Caribbean that start in London, but then island hop.
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| PS : |
So, we are pretty much a UK hub based airline, but there are a few flights that go on.
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| PB : |
What sort of services have you found that the Japanese travelers particularly enjoy or latch on to?
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| PS : |
Well, very interestingly we get very, very good feedback about our in-flight entertainment from Japanese travelers and, you know, watching movies seems to be very important to Japanese. One thing we do have that works very well is video-on-demand on board...
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| PS : |
...so you can stop the movie, you know, go to toilet, go and have a walk around the cabin, come back and start again...
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| PS : |
...not many airlines have that at the moment and that seems to score a lot of points with Japanese. I think Japanese travelers care a lot about food as well, so we have bento boxes on board. The presence of Japanese cabin crew does well for us.
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| PB : |
...the job you're doing now, does understanding the Japanese psyche play any kind of role in it?
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| PS : |
I think it does actually, yeah. Obviously understanding the needs of travelers is very important to us and if we want to succeed in this marketplace we need to understand what services are important for Japanese, which destinations they want to go to, so understanding the Japanese psyche is important.
I think especially now because I detect coming back to Japan this time there are changes going on in our market. Japanese used to be, I think, quite nervous travelers and, you know, they used to want to go to the same destinations that everyone else had been to.
They very much used to want to travel in large groups and stick together and have everything organized for them. Still a large part of the market is like that, but this time I detect a lot more independence and...
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| PB : |
Among younger travelers or across the board?
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| PS : |
Not necessarily. No. Across the board. In Japan, now people seem more confident to go off the beaten track and to organize things for themselves. You know, package tours is still a big, big part of the market, but every year there are more and more people who book their own air ticket, book their own hotel and arrange their own itinerary.
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| PB : |
Right, the internet has really opened everything up in that way.
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| PS : |
That's helped a lot too, yeah.
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sweeping changes：抜本的改革
modernize：現代化する
（ PS: Paul, PB: Peter ）
| PB : |
Within the air travel industry as a whole in Japan, how do you see the role of Virgin and how do you see that developing?
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| PS : |
Okay. Well, I think we've got an interesting role to play here because we are a relatively small fish in this particular pond. You know, we have our daily flights from Tokyo to London. We don't have the kind of market power to come in and make sweeping changes in this market...
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| PS : |
...but I think our mentality is that we do want to be a leader, so where we can we would like to encourage the market to modernize. In terms of our own operations, I think, we would love to expand here too.
You know, there were some very interesting other Japanese cities that I would love to see a flight from, for example, from Osaka to London or from Nagoya to London at some point in the future.
Right now, this year the market probably isn't ready for it and we need, you know, the Japanese economy to continue to recover for another year or two. We are very much committed to Japan and we would like to expand our operations here at some point in the future.
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| PB : |
Okay, the Nikkei Weekly, are you a reader? |
| PS : |
I am not yet. No. I mean to be completely honest with you, when I was approached about this interview, I had heard the name, but I didn't know much all about Nikkei Weekly, since then I have asked a couple of people if they know a bit and most people do actually so - and you have been - I don't how I have avoided Nikkei Weekly so far, but I know you have a very good reputation.
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 David Blume OBE / Managing Director
Jaguar & Land Rover Japan 
トラックバック
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http://blog.eigotown.com/mt33/mt-tb.cgi/3415
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