Japan Airlines ramps up Melbourne to Tokyo flights
Soaring demand has spurred the Oneworld member to add an extra flight into the Victorian capital.
By Chris Ashton, February 3 2023
Victorians looking to scratch their Japan travel itch will soon have an additional non-stop flight between Melbourne and Tokyo’s Narita Airport, with Japan Airlines ramping up its Boeing 787 service to four times weekly from March 26.
Joining the current Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday departures, the new Friday connection will see JL774 take off from Melbourne at 8:15am, arriving into Narita at 4:15pm.
On its return, JL773 sees wheels up from Narita every Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday at 6:35pm, before touching down in Melbourne at 6:35am the following day.
It’s worth noting this particular aircraft features the airline’s angled-flat Shell Flat Neo open business class in a 2-2-2 configuration, rather than the semi-enclosed Sky Suites found on its other 787-8.
The Shell Flat Neo features a 60 inch pitch, 21 inches width and 171-degree recline.
The national carrier’s four-times-weekly flight from Melbourne to Narita is in addition to its daily Sydney-Haneda service on the Boeing 787-9.
In other news for the airline, JAL says its forthcoming Airbus A350-1000 will boast all-new first and business class suites, with the seats described as an “unprecedented new experience”.
Travellers jetting between Tokyo-Haneda and New York will be the first to sample the suites, with JAL confirming the A350-1000 will take on the popular route during the Northern Winter schedule which begins in November.
The A350-1000 will replace the Boeing 777-300ER as JAL’s long-range flagship.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
13 Jan 2015
Total posts 584
What happened to their premium economy configured 787-8s? Pre covid when they had daily flights to MEL I flew 4 times yet now it appears as though the 787-8s no longer have premium economy and only on their 787-9s?
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
06 Oct 2016
Total posts 161
Both JL and QF are only doing 2 classes ATM
13 Apr 2020
Total posts 10
yes, throughout 2018 and 2019 daily JAL flights into Melbourne which they continued throughout most of COVID flying cargo. Seems weird to have reduced this to three (and now four) flights per week once the boarders opened and flights to pretty much everywhere are generally packed.
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