Six Japan Railways Group companies reported Monday that the number of passengers on their shinkansen and other express trains in key areas during the year-end and New Year holiday period rose 11% from a year earlier, to 13.09 million.
The figure for the 10-day period through Sunday was even up 2% from fiscal 2018, surpassing the level seen before the COVID-19 pandemic for the first time, thanks to a calendar configuration that allowed many people to take nine straight days off.
According to Central Japan Railway (JR Central), the daily number of passengers on the Tokaido Shinkansen Line reached 412,000, the highest on record for the year-end and New Year period.
West Japan Railway (JR West), saw the number of passengers on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line soar 40%, after an extended section of the line was opened last March connecting the cities of Kanazawa, in Ishikawa Prefecture, and Tsuruga, in Fukui Prefecture.
Flight demand was also strong during the same holiday period. All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL), saw the number of passengers on domestic flights rise 19.5% and 11.5%, respectively.
The number of international passengers was up 17.3% at ANA, which had record traffic to and from Hawaii, and up 24.4% at JAL.
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