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NARITA, Chiba — International air travel may be recovering after the coronavirus pandemic, but Japan’s two largest airlines are still flying less out of Narita International Airport east of Tokyo than they did before COVID-19 hit. In fact, they appear to be shifting away from the onetime primary international gateway to the capital.
Both All Nippon Airways Co. (ANA) and Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) are redistributing overseas flights from Narita to Haneda Airport, tucked snugly next to Tokyo’s urban core. At the same time, the airline groups are pursuing fresh medium-term strategies for their Narita operations, including new international airline brands and cargo services.
For the summer schedule beginning on March 31, ANA is set to run 116 weekly international flights on 18 routes out of Narita, compared to 294 weekly flights on 34 routes in the pre-pandemic summer of 2019. Meanwhile, the carrier’s Haneda summer schedule has expanded from 247 weekly flights on 24 routes in 2019 to 285 flights on 30 routes.
It’s much the same story with JAL, which has a summer schedule of 131 weekly international flights on 20 routes out of Narita this year, compared to 280 flights on 31 routes in 2019. At the same time, the airline has boosted international flights operated out of Haneda from 154 on 15 routes in summer 2019 to 236 on 24 routes this year.
The way was paved for the post-pandemic flight expansion at Haneda by the addition of international slots at the airport in March 2020, leading carriers to shift some services from Narita to Haneda.
Meanwhile, many routes that operated to and from Narita before the pandemic remain suspended, including some ANA services in Southeast Asia, China, Taiwan, Russia, India and Germany. ANA attributes this to retiring 35 aircraft due to the pandemic, slow recovery in demand for China routes, and continued avoidance of Russian airspace. “Narita’s importance, including transits between North America and Asia, remains unchanged. And while there are no specific plans, we will consider resuming flights depending on demand trends and fleet size in the medium term,” an ANA spokesperson said.
ANA will also increase the Narita flights of its freshly launched AirJapan brand to cover three routes, including a new one to Singapore starting in April.
On March 29, the airline will also launch a charter cargo flight on a Boeing 777F between Narita and Kumamoto in southwest Japan. In February, TSMC Ltd., the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, opened a production base in Kumamoto Prefecture, and ANA aims to expand scheduled flights in anticipation of increased demand for cargo transport.
JAL has also suspended some services to cities in Russia, China, Taiwan and South Korea. Currently, there are no JAL flights with first-class seats departing from or arriving at Narita, and the airline is not operating any routes to mainland China, excluding Hong Kong, from the airport. In fiscal 2024, JAL plans to increase seasonal flights to Taipei and add flights to the U.S. territory of Guam.
A JAL representative stated, “The core of our Narita route strategy is strong inbound tourism demand and connecting flights between North America and Asia. We will consider demand trends and local conditions for resuming mainland China routes in the future.”
(Japanese original by Tadakazu Nakamura, Narita Bureau)
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