Qantas continues to expand their network by adding three new routes to Japan to meet this growing demand: a year-round service to Osaka, a seasonal service to Sapporo, and now a new service between Melbourne and Haneda.
Qantas will become the first airline to launch non-stop flights between Melbourne and Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport.
Subject to government approval, Australian’s will be able to enjoy year-round flights to Haneda on a daily service as of 29 March 2020. Operating an Airbus A330 aircraft, the new flights will replace the airline’s existing service between Melbourne and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and save travellers more than an hour commuting into the city.
The flights come with improvements in customer experience from Haneda Airport, with eligible customers now able to access the Priority Lane at the airport’s security checkpoint, as well as Japan Airlines’ Sakura Lounge.
Flights are on sale now and customers already booked to travel from Melbourne to Narita will be automatically transferred onto these services or can make alternative arrangements.
Qantas has also announced new seasonal flights from Sydney to Sapporo, coinciding with the busy ski season in Japan and making it the fifth route between Australia and Japan.
The Sydney to Sapporo route will operate the airline’s upgraded A330, three times per week during the 2020-21 ski season from 14 December 2020 to 27 February 2021.
Qantas International CEO, Tino La Spina, said “Japan is arguably the most in demand place in the world to visit in 2020 and our new flights will make it even more convenient to travel there from Australia.”
“The number of Australians travelling to Japan has more than doubled over the past five years, with more than 500,000 Australians visiting Japan in the last 12 months alone.”
The Qantas Group operates more than 40 flights per week from Japan to Australia. This includes Qantas’s flights from Brisbane to Narita; Melbourne to Narita (from March 2020, this will be replaced with Melbourne to Haneda); and Sydney to Osaka, Haneda and Sapporo (seasonal).
The Group’s low-cost carrier, Jetstar, operates flights from Cairns to Narita and Osaka, and Gold Coast to Narita.
