Landed in Sapporo: First Impressions from AirAsia Japan’s Inaugural Flight

As I am writing this, I am sitting in Super Lounge at Sapporo airport, waiting for my Jetstar flight back to Tokyo. The reason I am here is that I took the AirAsia Japan inaugural from Nagoya earlier today. While I will post a full report later on, I wanted to share some quick impressions of the flight while it’s still fresh.

As some of you might know, this is not the first time for AirAsia to enter the Japanese market. For more information about that, check my brief article on the topic here.

Now, let’s get to the actual flight…

AirAsia Japan Check-in Area at Nagoya

After I arrived at Nagoya Centrair airport last night, I took a brief look at the airline’s new check-in area. To my surprise, there were some enthusiasts photographing the area and there were also some passengers checking in.

All is set for @airasia_jpn to start operations tomorrow. There were even some people checking in tonight already… pic.twitter.com/07mgbNQE1a

— KN Aviation (@knaviation) 2017年10月28日

When I got there shortly after 5:30AM this morning, the area was already packed with journalists and passengers. Since I printed my boarding pass last night, I just took some photos, and then cleared the security and headed towards the departure gate.

Inaugural Tape Cut Ceremony & Boarding

To celebrate the occasion, a tape cut ceremony was held at the flight’s departure gate. Representatives of both the airline and airport gave brief speeches before the tape cut itself.

Below is a video of the ceremony:

Once the tape was cut and the aircraft was ready, the boarding started. During boarding, passengers were handed a gift bag designed for this occasion. More about the gift bag in the full report, though… Outside, the aircraft was waiting in heavy rain that was brought by an incoming typhoon.

Down the jetway, one could hear AirAsia’s “fan club” shouting “AirAsia!” followed by another part of the team shouting “Japan!” There was also a performer singing Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger – good choice!

Onboard the First AirAsia Japan Flight

The flight itself took just a bit longer than 75 minutes – combined with turbulences we encountered, it wasn’t long enough for the cabin crew to finish the in-flight service. There was still plenty of time to take some photos, though – and for some passengers to enjoy their pre-ordered meals.

We landed at Sapporo New Chitose airport at 9:27AM, and reached our gate at 9:35AM. With that, the first flight (or the second first flight?) of AirAsia Japan came to an end. As we disembarked, we could see passengers at the departure gate ready to take the return flight.

Sending Off the Second Flight

Once I got off the aircraft, I headed to Sapporo’s observation deck to get some photos of the aircraft’s departure back to Nagoya.

While it took some time, flight DJ2 took off bound for Nagoya at 10:49AM – more than 30 minutes behind schedule.

Stay Tuned for the Full Report!

Even though the inaugural flight was less than 90 minutes long, I am glad I was able to join it – especially since I skipped the Jinbei Jet inaugural last week.

There’s much more information to share – as well as many more photos to edit – so stay tuned for the full report!

Now, I have to head to my departure gate…