It’s safe to say that Japan is a pretty hot destination right now. The country enjoyed a record-breaking first quarter for inbound tourism, with a whopping 3.5 million foreign travellers recorded in March alone – makes sense since we think we saw at least 90 percent of those tourists across Tokyo’s sakura spots just a few weeks ago.
To meet surging demand, driven in no small part by the Osaka Expo and expected to result in a total figure of 40.2 million visitors in 2025 – a 9-percent increase from last year – airlines are ramping up flight services between Japan and both the US and Europe. Japanese carriers ANA and JAL, along with Alaska Airlines and British Airways, are among those increasing their passenger offerings.
JAL is making significant increases to its routes in North America and Asia. Additional services will include those between Tokyo Narita and Chicago O’Hare airports from late May. Last operated in March 2023, this route will complement the daily services already running between Chicago O’Hare and Haneda.
Further west, JAL will increase its San Diego to Narita flights from four weekly to daily. Notably, JAL is also introducing two new Airbus A350-1000s, which will debut on the Haneda–Paris route in May and the Haneda–Los Angeles route in summer.
Over at ANA, three new Haneda–Europe routes have been added since December. These new flights, which operate from Milan, Stockholm and Istanbul, increase the airline’s Tokyo-to-Europe services to nine. According to the airline, the Milan and Stockholm routes, introduced in December and January, contributed to a 50% increase in ANA-borne European visitors over the New Year period compared to 2024.
Overseas, Alaska Airlines and British Airways (BA) are also making some changes. Alaska, which recently merged with Hawaiian, is introducing non-stop flights from Seattle to both Narita and Seoul – from May 12 and October, respectively – to better compete with the ‘Big Three’ of United, American and Delta.
Meanwhile, British Airways has increased its Heathrow–Haneda services to twice daily. The additional Heathrow services are designed to meet demand in both inbound tourism from the UK and an anticipated 16% increase in the number of Japanese tourists visiting the UK this year compared to 2024. Combined with a JAL codeshare, this brings the total weekly BA flights between Heathrow and Haneda to 28.
Domestically, JAL’s daily flights from Osaka (Itami) to Misawa and Sapporo (New Chitose) are also on the rise over the next few months. The introduction of Boeing 787-8 service between Haneda and Okinawa (Miyako) in August will further expand the options available to travellers throughout the country.
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