JAL to have interpreters for ROK passengers

Written by Writer on Sunday, October 26th, 2008

JAL to have interpreters for ROK passengers

With about 2.6 million South Koreans visiting Japan each year, Japan Airlines plans to provide Korean-language interpreters on some of its flights to and from South Korea, in a move to capitalize on the travel boom from the country.

JAL will become the first domestic airline to start a Japanese-Korean interpreter service. All Nippon Airways may follow suit.

Normally on JAL flights, passengers are served by Japanese flight attendants who speak English, and staff from among the 1,000 foreign cabin attendants employed by the airline from China, Germany, Brazil and other countries.

On JAL’s South Korea-Japan flights, passengers are given only taped guidance services, as those journeys take only 2-1/2 hours.

Since March 2005, however, short-stay travelers from South Korea have been exempt from obtaining tourist visas. As a result, the number of South Koreans visiting Japan has increased sharply, exceeding the number of Japanese visiting South Korea for the first time in 2007.

On some JAL flights connecting the two nations, the average rate of South Korean passengers tops 80 percent, prompting JAL’s decision to have Korean-language interpreters aboard its three round-trip flights on the Narita-Incheon and Haneda-Gimpo routes.

The interpreters will wear nameplates to distinguish them from flight attendants and allow easy identification by passengers. They will wear black suits and a white shirt with collar–unlike flight attendants, who normally sport a neck scarf.

Aboard the flights, the interpreters will be in charge of conveying passenger requests to flight attendants, while answering general inquiries about tourism, transportation from the airports to metropolitan areas and customs-clearing procedures.

According to JAL, its branch in Seoul has received a rising number of requests for onboard staff who speak Korean.
(Oct. 26, 2008)