Virgin’s Tokyo move

With the arrival of the Boeing 787 Virgin Atlantic plans to move its Tokyo operation to Haneda Airport from the start of the summer season 2014.

Haneda is Tokyo’s main airport moving 64m passengers last year.  Sitting on Tokyo Bay it is about eight miles from the centre of the city, linked by frequent Metro services.  Dating back to pre-World War II, it was closed to most international flights with the opening of Narita in 1978.  In 2010 a fourth runway was opened and since that time there has been a steady stream of airlines either operating to both airports, or moving across.

The controversial Narita Airport is 40 miles from downtown Tokyo linked by an express train and commuter routes.  The number of travellers using Narita fell 17% in 2011 from the previous year to 28,068,714.  The airport is now said to be encouraging low cost traffic.

Currently London is served daily from Tokyo by British Airways and Japan Air Lines, each with a single flight from both airports, and single operations by both ANA and Virgin from Narita. www.ana.co.jp www.ba.com www.jal.com www.virgin-atlantic.com

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