SYDNEY - Qantas will become the first airline to launch non-stop flights between Melbourne and Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport.
Japan is arguably the most in demand place in the world to visit in 2020.– Qantas International CEO, Tino La Spina
The year-round flights will operate daily from Mar. 29, 2020 with an Airbus A330 aircraft, replacing the airline’s existing service between Melbourne and Tokyo’s Narita International Airport
The flights are expected to save travellers more than an hour commuting into the city and complement Qantas’ existing daily flights from Sydney to Haneda which the Australian national carrier has operated since 2015.
The announcement comes alongside the launch this week of the airline’s new seasonal flights from Sydney to Sapporo, coinciding with the ski season in Japan.
Qantas is the only airline to connect Australia directly with the Hokkaido region and the service is the national carrier’s fifth route between Australia and Japan.
The flights will operate three times per week during the 2020-21 ski season.
Qantas International CEO, Tino La Spina said, “Japan is arguably the most in demand place in the world to visit in 2020. 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.”