Chinese budget air carrier Spring Airlines, had recently announced free tickets to Japan so as to boost plunging tourism caused due to the Japan China dispute. However, the Airline cancelled the offer for free tickets on October 19, 2012, due to pressure from bloggers, who slammed the company by calling it a traitor.
The airline withdrew its offer of free round-trip tickets between Shanghai and the Saga Prefecture of Friday. The offer was launched by the airlines on October 16, 2012. The spokesperson of the airline Zhang Wuan said, “We cancelled the offer last night after taking into consideration the feeling of netizens”.
The new promotional fares had allowed travelers to pay just the taxes and surcharges and no other fees, the total of which came up to just 1,030 yuan per ticket. The airline had offered free tickets in order to increase the demand for tickets after the dispute over islands in the East China Sea had dropped sales of ticket by up to half.
The airlines has also withdrawn its offer on tickets between Shanghai and Japan’s Kagawa. A spokesperson from the airline was asked if they would cut capacity to Japan, but he refused to speak any further about the controversy.
