The chatter on social media was confirmed today with ANA – the largest airline in Japan by fleet size announcing the launch of its flights to Chennai effective Winter 2019. This will be the airline’s third destination in India. ANA operates daily services to both Mumbai and Delhi from Tokyo – Narita and these services are operated by the Boeing B787 Dreamliner aircraft.
The airline will also upgrade the flights to Mumbai from B787-8 to B787-9 effective 1st September 2019. The airline currently has 36 B787-8 in fleet and a capacity ranging from 169 to 335, while the B787-9 has a capacity ranging from 215 to 395 and currently 28 are in fleet.
Narita predominantly handles international traffic and caters to nearly half of the Japanese international traffic. Chennai – will be the first southern gateway for carriers from Japan. The ties between the two countries are growing rapidly and trade and tourism are big on the agenda. Chennai region is a automobile hub with many Japanese and South Korean companies in the vicinity.
There also are reports of Japan Airlines (JAL) starting flights to Bengaluru next year. ANA has partnership agreements with Air India, Vistara and Jet Airways, while JAL has interline agreement with Vistara. In 2017, India and Japan expanded their Air Services Agreement, opening up the possibility of flights between the two countries with open skies.
JAL came up with a press release to announce its intent to start flights to Bengaluru and release the timings.The flights would be operated by B787 Dreamliner aircraft and would depart Tokyo – Narita at 1825 hours, reaching Bengaluru at 0005 hours the next day. The return flight will depart at 0245 and reach Tokyo – Narita at 1455hours.
Note: The article will be updated when the flights are available for sale.
NetworkThoughts 