Japan Archives – London Air Travel

British Airways Extends Tokyo Suspension

BA flights between London Heathrow and Tokyo Haneda are suspended until late October 2022 at the earliest.

British Airways Coat Of Arms (Image Credit: British Airways)

British Airways has extended the temporary suspension of flights from London Heathrow to Tokyo Haneda until late May 2022.

BA had suspended the route for the winter season. It was due to resume on Wednesday 30 March 2022. The route will now resume from Sunday 29 May 2022 at the earliest.

Flights beyond this date have been taken off sale until Monday 31 October, which suggests the suspension will be extended further.

Update Monday 4 April: The route is now suspended until Sunday 30 October 2022.

Japan Airlines Suspends BA Codeshares

Japan Airlines has temporarily suspended its codeshare with BA on flights between Europe and Japan.

London Air Travel » Japan

Japan Airlines Logo (Image Credit: Japan Airlines)

Japan Airlines has temporarily suspended its codeshare with British Airways on flights between Europe and Japan.

BA & Japan Airlines’ Joint Business

BA, Finnair and Japan Airlines operate a joint business between Europe and Japan.

The three airlines codeshare on each other’s flights and offer reciprocal local connections.

Following sanctions imposed against Russia by the UK and the European Union, and retaliatory measures, Finnair has suspended all flights between Helsinki and Tokyo as these fly over Russian airspace.

BA had already temporarily suspended flights to Tokyo Haneda for commercial reasons. The airline is due to restart these on 30 March 2022.

Japan Airlines continues to fly between Europe and Japan over Russian airspace. It has only suspended flights between Tokyo Haneda and Moscow.

British Airways relaunches London Heathrow – Osaka

British Airways is to return to Osaka, Japan launcing a direct flight from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Kansai International Airport from 31 March 2019.

London Air Travel » Japan

Osaka Castle (Image Credit: Japan National Tourism Organization)

British Airways is to return to Osaka after a near 20 year absence.

BA will fly from London Heathrow Terminal 5 to Kansai International Airport four times weekly from Sunday 31 March 2019.

Flights will be operated with a three class Boeing 787-8 aircraft. The flight operates from London Heathrow on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday. It operates from Kansai International Airport on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday.

BA used to fly to Osaka via Tokyo Narita. However, the route was suspended in October 1998. Japan Airlines also used to fly direct from Heathrow to Osaka.

Kansai International Airport has only just restored operations to normal following more than two weeks of disruption after its facilities were flooded following Typhoon Jebi.

The route will be codeshared with Japan Airlines which, along with Finnair and Iberia, operates a joint-business with BA between Europe and Japan. It will also be possible to combine direct flights between Heathrow and Osaka with indirect flights via Helsinki on Finnair and Tokyo Haneda on Japan Airlines.

BA has also prepared a short PDF summary of the new route.

Flights are on sale now at ba.com

London Heathrow – Osaka

Flight BA19 Depart London Heathrow 14:20 – Arrive Kansai International Airport 09:50 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)
Flight BA20 Depart Kansai International Airport 11:30 – Arrive London Heathrow 15:50 (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)

JAL adds second daily London Heathrow – Tokyo Haneda flight

Japan Airlines (“JAL”) is to add a second daily London Heathrow – Tokyo Haneda flight with effect from Sunday 29 October 2017.

London Air Travel » Japan

Japan Airlines - London Heathrow - Tokyo — Japan Airlines – London Heathrow – Tokyo

Japan Airlines (“JAL”) is to add a second daily London Heathrow – Tokyo Haneda flight with effect from Sunday 29 October 2017.

This means that, together with its joint-venture partner British Airways, JAL will offer four flights a day between London and Tokyo. BA will continue to fly to both Tokyo Narita and Tokyo Haneda airports daily.

The new JAL flight (JL41 & J42) will depart London Heathrow at 09:30 and return to London Heathrow at 06:25. The flight will be operated by a Boeing 787 in a three class configuration.

It’s noteworthy that BA and JAL have chosen to add capacity between London and Japan when history has shown that inbound visitors from Japan to Europe can be very sensitive to terrorist incidents.

In addition, BA and JAL have chosen to a fourth daily frequency from London to Tokyo, rather than add a flight to an unserved destination in Japan such as Osaka or Nagoya. This does give BA and JAL a substantial frequency advantage over All Nippon Airlines which is the only other airline to fly between London and Tokyo after Virgin Atlantic withdrew from Tokyo on 31 January 2015.

The new flight will be on sale at Japan Airlines from Friday 14 July 2017.

BA has not yet added a codeshare to the additional flight but should do so shortly.
Continue reading “JAL adds second daily London Heathrow – Tokyo Haneda flight”

Iberia returns to Tokyo and aims to launch Shanghai

London Air Travel » Japan

Iberia has announced it is to return to Japan with the launch of a three times weekly flight from Madrid to Tokyo Narita from Tuesday 18 October 2016.

The airline also aims to launch flights from Madrid to Shanghai later in 2016, subject to Government approval and obtaining slots at Shanghai.
Continue reading “Iberia returns to Tokyo and aims to launch Shanghai”

Finnair launches Helsinki to Fukuoka & Guangzhou from May 2016

London Air Travel » Japan

Finnair continues its strategy of making its Helsinki hub the gateway to Asia with the launch of two new routes, to Fukuoka and Guangzhou.

Finnair will launch a direct route from Helskini to Fukuoka in southern Japan in May 2016, with three weekly flights.

The service to Fukuoka makes Finnair the only European airline to fly to four cities in Japan, the others being Tokyo Narita, Nagoya and Osaka.

Finnair will launch a direct route to Guangzhou in China with four weekly flights between 6 May and 29 October 2016.

Guangzhou is Finnair’s sixth destination in Greater China. Finnair has year-round services to Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong and Shanghai, and a summer seasonal service to Xi’an.

Both destinations will be served with Finnair’s Airbus A330 aircraft, in a two class (economy and business) and configuration.

Finnair’s flight to Fukuoka will be part of the British Airways, Finnair and Japan Airlines joint-venture, and passengers of the respective airlines will be able to book this flight, and onward connections.

Flights are now open for booking at Finnair.com

Timetable:

Flight AY67 Depart Helsinki 17:00 – Arrive Guangzhou 07:30 (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)
Flight AY68 Depart Guangzhou 10:00 – Arrive Helsinki 15:00 (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday)

Flight AY75 Depart Helsinki 16:30 – Arrive Fukuoka 08:00 (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday)
Flight AY76 Depart Fukuoka 09:30 – Arrive Helsinki (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday)