Qantas has resumed direct flights between Melbourne and Tokyo for the first time in three years. The new service is the first non-stop flight between Melbourne and Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport by any airline, saving passengers nearly two hours travel to downtown Tokyo compared with Narita Airport, which the flight operated to before the pandemic.
The year-round flights will operate four days per week with an Airbus A330 aircraft and add to Qantas’ existing flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Haneda Airport. Together, these flights offer customers more than 420,000 seats between Australia and Japan annually and the choice of double daily flights to Tokyo.
Andrew David, Domestic and International CEO, Qantas: “The flights would support the resurgence of tourism and trade links between Australia and Japan which have been growing rapidly since borders reopened. We’ve seen the demand for our Tokyo flights bounce back very strongly, and our research shows that it is one of the top tourist destinations that Australians plan on visiting in the next 12 months.”
The Melbourne-Tokyo Haneda route launch will be soon followed by the national carrier’s new Melbourne-Jakarta service which is set to commence in mid-April.
The Qantas Group operates up to 35 return flights per week from Australia to Japan. This includes Qantas’ flights from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney to Haneda and Jetstar’s flights from Cairns to Narita and Osaka, and Gold Coast to Narita.