Faced with a warning from the Fair Trade Commission, All Nippon Airways Co. said Thursday that it will withdraw its plans to offer new discount fares for flights between Tokyo and the three Kyushu airports of Fukuoka, Miyazaki and Kagoshima.
The antimonopoly watchdog had warned the nation's three major airlines -- ANA, Japan Airlines Co. and Japan Air System Co. -- that their fare-slashing strategies could violate the Antimonopoly Law by exploiting their oligopolistic positions against smaller newcomers.
At present, two entrant carriers link Tokyo and Kyushu offering budget fares -- Skymark Airlines Co., which began operations in 1996, and Skynet Asia Airways Co., which was launched in August.