Toki Air to Fly Every Day, Peach Celebrates Narita City’s 70th Anniversary & More

Welcome to the June 21, 2024, edition of the This Week in Japanese Aviation newsletter!

Among other things, Toki Air announced it will be increasing the frequency of both of its routes, Niigata - Sapporo Okadama and Niigata - Sendai, from the current 10 weekly roundtrips (two rotations on five days of the week) to double daily.

Continue reading to see what else happened in Japan’s aviation industry over the last seven days. While the highlights are below, other things happened too. As such, make sure to stop by Japan Aviation Hub.

Routes

AirAsia X will extend its Kuala Lumpur - Taipei Taoyuan route to Osaka Kansai from August 1, 2024. The new one-stop route will operate daily and AirAsia X will have fifth-freedom rights to transport passengers between Taipei and Osaka.

Air Niugini filed schedule for a route connecting Port Moresby with Tokyo Narita via Koror in Palau. The flights are scheduled to be operated twice a week from October 29, 2024.

Toki Air will increase the frequencies of Niigata - Sapporo Okadama and Niigata - Sendai to double daily from July 12, 2024. Tickets for the new frequencies will be available for purchase from June 21, 2024.

Cathay Pacific will add three extra weekly flights on its Hong Kong - Nagoya Chubu route from October 28, 2024. Combined with the existing two daily rotations (including a daily rotation via Taipei), the airline will offer 17 roundtrips per week between the two cities.

Korean Air will add an extra daily flight between Seoul Incheon and Osaka Kansai from September 2, until October 26, 2024. During that period, the airline will offer six daily rotations between Seoul and Osaka Kansai including four from Incheon and two from Gimpo.

Hong Kong Airlines will add extra rotations between Hong Kong and Fukuoka starting from July 20, 2024. Depending on the period, the airline plans to operate up to 13 weekly roundtrips between the two cities.

Fleets

Oriental Air Bridge will retire its last Bombardier Dash 8 Q200 at the end of June, with the type's last flights with the airline being scheduled to operate on June 30, 2024.

PaxEx

Starlux Airlines will offer first class on Taipei Taoyuan - Osaka Kansai from July 1, 2024. The airline currently flies on the route twice daily, offering economy and business class service on both flights and premium economy on one.

JAL Mileage Bank will increase the number of miles required to book selected Japanese domestic award tickets from July 11, 2024.

J-Air will finish rolling out Intelsat onboard internet across its entire E190 fleet on July 11, 2024. To celebrate the occasion, the airline will allow passengers to stream videos for free for a limited time.

AirJapan will revise the fare types it offers for some of its flights departing on October 27, 2024, or later. While the airline's cheapest "Simple" fare type will remain unchanged, passengers booking "Standard" and "Selected" tickets to and from Bangkok and Singapore will be able to enjoy relaxed rules.

Peach decorated one of its aircraft with decals of Unari-kun, Narita City’s mascot, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Narita becoming a city. The "Unari-kun Jet" entered into service on June 20, 2024.

Did You Know That…

Japan’s shortest commercial route is just eight miles long and connects Okinawa’s Minamidaito and Kitadaito. The route, operated by Ryukyu Air Commuter using its Dash 8 Q400CCs, will be discontinued at the end of next month.

That’s it for this week - thank you for reading and have a great week!

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