Qatar Airways will be the first Gulf carrier to serve Tokyo Haneda, starting June 18 and using its newest aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
BERLIN– Qatar Airways announced that it will begin daily flights to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, the airline’s third destination in Japan commencing 18 June 2014. The airline will offer non-stop flights from its hub in Doha operating with a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Haneda will be Qatar Airways’ third route to Japan following Osaka, which began in March 2005 and Tokyo Narita in April 2010. Both Osaka and Tokyo are currently non-stop daily operations.
“The airline has pursued aggressive growth in the Asian market to cater to the demand of our business and leisure passengers,” said Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer, His Excellency Mr. Akbar Al Baker.
“Haneda is a key gateway into the city of Tokyo that will offer passengers a second option to arrive into making it more convenient. Just last year we launched four new destinations in Asia; Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Clark International Airport in the Philippines, as well as Chengdu and Hangzhou in China.”
Haneda International Airport is one of the two major airports that serve the Greater Tokyo area. In 2012, Haneda was the second busiest airport in Asia with more than 66 million passengers.
Qatar Airways currently operates to 24 destinations in Asia. The addition of the third route to Japan further secures the airline’s hold in its already blossoming growth in the region, with Asian destinations making up approximately 18% of the airline’s overall route map. Qatar Airways will operate a Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Haneda Airport in a two-class configuration, with 22 Business Class and 232 Economy Class seats.
Qatar Airways will begin operations to and from Haneda Airport (HND) as per below schedule effective 18 June 2014:
Qatar Airways flies to 136 key business and leisure destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas. The network is further growing in 2014 with new routes being launched to Philadelphia, USA (April 2), Larnaca, Cyprus (April 29), Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport, Turkey (May 22), Edinburgh, Scotland (May 28), Miami, USA (June 10) and Dallas/Fort Worth, USA (July 1).
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
