News
JAL adds daily Melbourne service
June 2nd 2017
After exiting Chapter 11-style bankruptcy protection in April, Japan Airlines (JAL) is allowed to add destinations to its network again. Read More »
This week, the flag carrier under the leadership of president Yoshiharu Ueki said it would add a daily Narita-Melbourne B787-8 service from September 1, only its second route to Oceania following Sydney.
Ueki said the Australia-Japan economic partnership agreement (EPA) had brought the two countries closer together and supported additional flights between the nations.
“Since 1969, JAL has been operating to Australia and contributing to the promotion of bilateral relations between Japan and Australia. This partnership has become even stronger since the EPA went into force, and so we are pleased to serve Melbourne and continue supporting both nations from every possible aspect including business and tourism,” Ueki said.
JAL will send one of its B787 ‘luxury liners’ to Melbourne, fitted in a high-premium configuration seating 161 passengers only across business class (38 seats), premium economy class (35 seats) and economy (88 seats in a 2-4-2 layout).
The Japan-Australia air passenger market has grown steadily over the past two years. Qantas Airways maintains up to double daily frequency to Tokyo and it added a daily Brisbane-Narita A330 route in 2015, followed by the resumption of daily Melbourne-Narita flights in December 2016.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) launched a daily Haneda-Sydney B787 route in December 2015, its only service to Australasia.
