Last week, Australia’s International Air Services Commission (IASC) awarded Qantas a slot pair allowing it to operate an extra daily roundtrip to Tokyo Haneda. With three Haneda slot pairs instead of the current two, Qantas plans to move its daily flights from Melbourne and Brisbane to Tokyo from Narita to Haneda and one of its two daily Sydney – Haneda flights to Narita.
The slot pair will be available to Qantas from February 25 for, at this point, five years. Based on Qantas’ application for the slot pair and the corresponding IASC determination, the capacity must be fully utilized by April 30, 2025. By then, Qantas plans to implement the following schedule for its Australia – Haneda network:
- QF61 / Brisbane – Tokyo Haneda / 11:45AM – 8:00PM
- QF62 / Tokyo Haneda – Brisbane / 6:50AM – 4:45PM
- QF79 / Melbourne – Tokyo Haneda / 10:40AM – 8:15PM
- QF80 / Tokyo Haneda – Melbourne / 9:55PM – 9:15AM+1
- QF25 / Sydney – Tokyo Haneda / 8:30PM – 5:20AM+1
- QF26 / Tokyo Haneda – Sydney / 10:00PM – 8:40AM+1
Qantas’ Sydney – Haneda rotation, which departs Sydney every day around noon, will be moved to Narita at the same time the Brisbane and Melbourne flights will move to Haneda. The details of the upcoming Sydney – Narita route are yet to be announced.
All Qantas flights to Haneda, including those to the two new destinations, will continue to be operated by Airbus A330-300 aircraft with 297 seats including 28 in business and 269 in economy class.
While Qantas serves Sydney – Haneda alongside JAL and ANA, it will be the only airline offering non-stop flights between other Australian cities and Haneda. Currently, Virgin Australia operates Cairns – Haneda, however, the airline will terminate the route in late February 2025, thus freeing up the slot that Qantas will use.
In addition to its mainline routes, Qantas’ wholly-owned low-cost subsidiary Jetstar also serves Tokyo Narita out of Cairns and Brisbane. Separately, ANA plans to resume Narita – Perth later this month.
