New Japan Airlines Schedule Sees Dreamliner Introduced on More Routes

Japan Airlines (JAL) is introducing Boeing 787s on several additional routes in the period to March 31, 2013 as it continues to take delivery of more of the new Boeing widebody jets.

JAL will use its Boeing 787-8 fleet to inaugurate the world’s first and only non-stop flight between San Diego and Asia on December 2, launching four-times-weekly service from Tokyo’s Narita International Airport on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Japan Airlines took delivery of its first two Boeing 787s on March 26, 2012

The service frequency will increase to become a daily flight in March. The date when the frequency increase begins will depend on the exact dates Japan Airlines takes delivery of additional Boeing 787s.

The carrier will also launch non-stop, four-times-weekly service between Narita International Airport and Helsinki in March 2013 with Boeing 787-8 jets.

More imminently, JAL will begin using Boeing 787-8s to offer additional daily service between Tokyo and Singapore Changi International Airport from October 28, increasing the number of flights it operates each week to the city-state from 14 to 21.

JAL will primarily operate all three of its daily flights from Tokyo to Singapore – two from Narita and one from Tokyo Haneda Airport – with Boeing 787-8s.

In other schedule news, to meet thriving demand for flights between Tokyo and New Delhi, JAL will increase its service frequency from five to seven round-trips a week and will add further capacity by switching the aircraft it operates on the Narita-New Delhi route to Boeing 777-200ER widebodies.

On March 26, 2012, Japan Airlines became the second customer to take delivery of Boeing 787 widebodies. Rival Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways had been the first customer to receive the near-revolutionary Boeing widebody

To align supply with demand more closely, Japan Airlines is also adjusting its aircraft assignments for flights to and from China and Taiwan from October 28.

The adjustments will see Boeing 767-300ER widebodies replace Boeing 737-800s on JAL’s Narita-Beijing, Narita-Shanghai Pudong and Chubu-Shanghai routes.

Between Tokyo Narita and Taipei Taoyuan, however, Boeing 737-800 equipment will replace the 767-300ERs currently used. Meanwhile, on JAL’s Tokyo Haneda-Beijing route, Boeing 787-8s will replace 767-300ERs from September 16.

Domestically within Japan, JAL will modify its flight frequencies on certain routes to match demand and the changes in travel patterns of customers, influenced in part by the change in seasons.

Dates when frequency modifications begin and end vary depending on the route, but the changes will see JAL seasonally increase its daily schedule on the Tokyo Haneda-Izumo route from five to six flights between October 28 and February 28.

Japan Airlines has 25 Boeing 787-8s in service and on order, and 20 of the larger Boeing 787-9 model

On the Haneda-Sapporo route, Japan’s busiest domestic route, JAL will increase its service from 17 to 18 daily flights from March 1 to March 30. Between Sapporo and Sendai, daily frequency will increase from four to five round-trips between October 28 and March 30.

Between Fukuoka and Miyazaki, Japan Airlines will increase daily service frequency from nine to 10 round-trips from October 1.

Two domestic services will see reductions in service frequency. From October 28, JAL will trim its service between Haneda and Naha on the island of Okinawa from 14 to 13 daily round-trips. meanwhile, from October 1 the carrier will reduce daily service between Fukuoka and Kagoshima from three to two round-trips.

Additionally, Japan Airlines’ current services linking Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport and Osaka Kansai International Airport and Ishigaki will become non-stop in each direction after the official opening of the New Ishigaki Airport.