At the end of October 2019, JAL announced details of its upcoming international expansion at Tokyo Narita including new routes to Vladivostok and Bengaluru. It also outlined plans for Zipair, its upcoming low-cost subsidiary which will start flying to Bangkok and Seoul in mid-2020.
Today, just like ANA, it announced the details of its expansion at Tokyo Haneda made possible by newly available daytime slots.
JAL’s Plan with New Tokyo Haneda Daytime Slots
Overall, JAL was awarded 11.5 slot pairs from the newly available batch, two less than ANA. The new slots will allow JAL to operate 6 daily rotations from Haneda to the United States, 2 to China, 1 to Russia, Australia, and Finland, and 0.5 to India.
According to today’s announcement, JAL will use the newly allocated slots as follows:
- United States
- Increase frequency to New York JFK from daily to double daily (and eliminate flights from Narita)
- Move Dallas-Fort Worth flights from Narita to Haneda
- Move Chicago flights from Narita to Haneda, restart flights from Narita in addition to Haneda flights later
- Move two Honolulu flights from Narita to Haneda
- Launch flights to Los Angeles in addition to the existing daily flights from Narita
- China
- Increase frequency to Shanghai Pudong from daily to double daily
- Launch flights to Dalian in addition to the existing daily flights from Narita
- Australia
- Move Sydney flights from Narita to Haneda
- India
- Move Delhi flights from Narita to Haneda
- Europe
- Move Helsinki flights from Narita to Haneda
- Move Moscow flights from Narita to Haneda, switch from Domodedovo to Sheremetyevo
All of the new Haneda flights will start operating on March 29, 2020. JAL expects to resume service between Tokyo Narita and Chicago on February 15, 2021.
JAL’s New Haneda International Flight Schedules
Together with announcing the list of the new routes, JAL also revealed the schedules for all of them except the two routes to China (Dalian and second daily Shanghai flights).
Starting with the US flights, the Chicago (ORD), New York (JFK), and Los Angeles (LAX) routes will be operated by Boeing 777-300ERs equipped with four classes including first class.
The Chicago flights will operate with the following schedule:
- JL10 / HND – ORD / 11:45AM – 9:30AM
- JL9 / ORD – HND / 12:25PM – 3:35PM+1
The New York flights will operate with the following schedule:
- JL4 / HND – JFK / 6:30PM – 6:25PM
- JL3 / JFK – HND / 1:30AM – 4:45AM+1
The Los Angeles flights will operate with the following schedule:
- JL16 / HND – LAX / 5:00PM – 10:50AM
- JL15 / LAX – HND / 1:45PM – 5:20PM+1
JAL will downgrade its Narita – Los Angeles service from the 777-300ER to the smaller 787-8 once the Haneda flights start operating.
As for the remaining US routes – Dallas-Forth Worth (DFW) and Honolulu (HNL) – they will be operated by Boeing 787-9 aircraft. Business, premium economy, and economy class seats will be offered on the flights.
The Dallas flights will run as follows:
- JL12 / HND – DFW / 10:55AM – 8:25AM
- JL11 / DFW – HND / 10:55AM – 2:20PM+1
The two daily Honolulu rotations will operate with the following schedule:
- JL74 / HND – HNL / 9:00PM – 9:20AM
- JL72 / HND – HNL / 9:55PM – 10:15AM
- JL73 / HNL – HND / 12:05PM – 3:50PM+1
- JL71 / HNL – HND / 3:45PM – 7:30PM+1
The flights to Moscow (SVO) will be operated with a two-class (business and economy) Boeing 787-8 aircraft as follows:
- JL49 / HND – SVO / 10:45AM – 2:55PM
- JL40 / SVO – HND / 4:35PM – 7:55AM+1
The remaining three routes for which schedules were announced – Helsinki (HEL), Sydney (SYD), and Delhi (DEL) – will be operated by Boeing 787-9 aircraft in a three-class (business, premium economy, and economy) configuration.
The Helsinki flights will operate as follows:
- JL47 / HND – HEL / 10:50AM – 3:00PM
- JL48 / HEL – HND / 5:25PM – 8:55AM+1
The Delhi flights will operate with the following schedule:
- JL39 / HND – DEL / 10:55AM – 5:00PM
- JL30 / DEL – HND / 7:30PM – 6:55AM+1
Finally, the Sydney flights will run as follows:
- JL51 / HND – SYD / 7:20PM – 7:10AM+1
- JL52 / SYD – HND / 9:15AM – 5:05PM
Summary
Unfortunately, like ANA, JAL will not be using any of its new US slots to launch new destinations it hasn’t served previously. Instead, it will be using them to either move its flights from Narita or to add new frequencies on existing routes.
The same applies for its slots to China, India, Finland, Russia, and Australia.
The one thing worth noting, though, is that JAL will be switching its Moscow airport from Domodedovo to Sheremetyevo to increase its cooperation with Aeroflot.
Overall, it is an exciting time for JAL with new routes being launched from Narita, many flights being moved to the more convenient Haneda, and even a brand new airline – Zipair – in the works.
