QF to Haneda
Qantas will begin daily flights to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in August 2015, making it the only airline in Australia with direct flights into the near-city airport.
The airline will continue its daily flights from Sydney to Tokyo's Narita Airport flights, although it suggests that the timing of that flight may change "so that the combined services offer better flexibility for customers."
Like current Sydney-Narita schedule, the Haneda service will be an overnight flight from Australia to reach Tokyo in the morning.
However, the new Haneda flights are not expected to be anchored in Sydney, with Qantas considering other capital cities to anchor the route – opening the possibility of new routes such as Brisbane-Tokyo or Melbourne-Tokyo.
Qantas has also not yet revealed what type of aircraft will fly the route. The Sydney-Tokyo service is currently operated by a Boeing 747, and the airline says the new Haneda service "will be made possible as a result of improvements in the utilisation of our fleet."
While Narita is Tokyo's largest and busiest international airport it's also a long way from the city, taking almost an hour on airport express train services to the city centre compared to less than half an hour from Haneda on the Tokyo Monorail.
Travellers will also have access the recently-revamped Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge at Haneda Airport.
“This is great news for customers travelling from Australia to Tokyo and popular destinations across Japan" enthused Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce.