Australian flag carrier, Qantas will launch daily direct flights between Melbourne and Tokyo’s Narita Airport from 16th December 2016, in a response to the increasing demand on the route.
A two-class A330-300, with 297 seats, will be used to operate the service.
The new service adds to the airline’s popular Sydney-Tokyo (Haneda) and Brisbane -Tokyo (Narita) services, launched in 2015.
The number of visitors from Japan to Australia rose by 17 per cent in 2015/16 financial year. Travel from Australia to Japan is also growing rapidly, having seen a 24 per cent increase in 2015.
Qantas and Jetstar will both operate flights from Melbourne to Tokyo (Narita) during the December 2016-February 2017 holiday peak. Afterwards, Jetstar will stop flights on the direct route after the 25th February, 2017.
CEO of Qantas International and Freight, Gareth Evans, said: “We’re delighted to be stepping up our commitment to the Japanese market at a boom time for tourism and business travel.”
“The Qantas Group is perfectly placed to support the resurgent growth we’re seeing, with the biggest Australia-Japan network, the biggest domestic network in Australia, and the biggest low-cost carrier network in Japan through Jetstar.
“Our dual-brand strategy and the size of our fleet means we have the ability to move quickly to meet demand where it’s strongest, putting the right aircraft on the right route. We have received great feedback on the world-class product we’ve created for our Airbus A330 fleet, and now even more customers flying to Japan will be able to enjoy the reconfigured aircraft.
“We lifted Qantas’ capacity on Asian routes by 17 per cent last financial year, so this is very much part of a larger pivot to Asia.”
