Thursday, February 20, 2014

JAL to resume Kansai to London and Los Angeles in 2015.

Japan Airlines (JL/JAL) is planning to re-launch services from Osaka/Kansai (KIX/RJBB) to London/Heathrow (LHR/EGLL) and Los Angeles (LAX/KLAX) in the second half of fiscal year 2015. Osaka's local corporations and authorities have been pushing JAL for the resumption. Los Angeles was terminated in October 2006 and Heathrow was also suspended in March 2009.
Boeing 777-246/ER JA709J parked at Tokyo's Haneda Airport. (Photo: Ryosuke Yano)

To 'experiment' the feasibility, on February 19th JAL announced that they will operate a round-trip charter flight from Osaka/Kansai (KIX/RJBB) to the U.K. in July. A 245-seat Boeing 777-200ER will depart Kansai on July 2nd and arrive in Edinburgh (EDI/EGPH), Scotland, while the return leg will leave Heathrow on July 9th and arrive back at Kansai on July 10th. It will be part of Kansai Airport's 20th anniversary events. Kansai was built on 100% reclaimed land in Osaka Bay and opened on September 4th, 1994.

JAL revealed last month (JAL announces Summer 2014 international plans.) that improving financial results and a recovering economy plus the availability of Boeing 787s are having the company consider restarting long-haul routes from Kansai as well as Nagoya/Chubu Centrair (NGO/RJGG).

Source: Mainichi Shimbun, February 19th. (in Japanese)
Source: Aviation Wire, February 20th. (in Japanese)

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