Turkish Airlines, the national flag carrier of Turkey, is set to serve Tokyo’s Narita International Airport from mid-December. In line with its Northern winter 2022/23 schedule, the carrier is making a return to Tokyo Narita on December 15, 2022. With the resumption of the Istanbul-Narita service, Turkish Airlines will fly to both international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, i.e., Narita Airport and Haneda International Airport. Let’s go over the details.
Resuming Narita operations
The flagship carrier Turkish Airlines is resuming its Tokyo-Narita operations from December 15, after a gap of over two and half years. The Istanbul-based carrier last operated flights to Narita in March 2020. Making a fresh start, Turkish Airlines has scheduled the first flight on December 15. However, it is yet to put the first Tokyo-Narita flight on sale. According to the reports, the airline will operate three weekly flights connecting Istanbul International Airport to Narita International Airport.
The flight itinerary is scheduled as follows:
Flight TK050: Depart Istanbul at 14:55 local time and arrive in Narita at 07:50 the next day, flight duration-10 hours 55 minutes
Flight TK051: Depart Narita at 09:20 local time and arrive in Istanbul at 16:55 local time, flight duration-13 hours 35 minutes
Boeing 787-9 aircraft for Istanbul-Narita service
Turkish Airlines will deploy a state-of-the-art Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner to perform flights between Istanbul and Tokyo Narita. Boeing 787-9 is a mid-size, twin-engine, wide-body jet airliner that offers 20% more fuel efficiency than similar-sized commercial jets and flies at a maximum speed of 954km with a range of 15,400km. With a seating capacity of 300 passengers (20 fully flat business class seats and 270 economy seats) Turkish Boeing, 787-9 aircraft promises unparalleled flight comfort and delivers the journey of a lifetime to its customers. It features personally-designed seats, wider gaps between seats, spacious overhead cabinets and lock storage units, larger windows, an enhanced cabin environment with higher humidity, and attractive interior decoration. Turkish B787-9 is equipped with HEPA filters to ensure clean and safe air inside the cabin, and it reduces cabin noise by 60% to enable a soothing flying experience.
Flying to both airports in Tokyo
The return of Turkish Airlines to Tokyo Narita will supplement the carrier’s existing once-daily flight service to Tokyo Haneda Airport. From mid-December, Turkey’s state-owned carrier will conduct air operations to both of the Greater Tokyo Area’s international airports. At present, Turkish offers a single daily flight between Istanbul and Haneda Airport. The airline received permission to inaugurate flights to Haneda Airport in 2019 and launched a daily Istanbul-Tokyo Haneda route from March 30, 2020, replacing the Tokyo Narita flight.
Turkish Airlines flight TK198 takes off from Istanbul at 02:50 and lands in Tokyo Haneda at 19:45; the total flight duration-10 hr 55 minutes.
Turkish Airlines flight TK199 takes off from Haneda Airport at 22:50 local time and arrives in Istanbul at 06:25 the next morning; the total flight duration-13 hr 35 minutes.
For Haneda flights, Turkish Airlines operates twin-engine Boeing 777-300ER aircraft featuring two two-class configurations with 48 business class seats and 300 standard economy seats.
Flights to Japan
Turkish Airlines offers air connectivity to 13 different Japanese destinations, including Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Nagoya, Oita, Okinawa, Sapporo, Takamatsu, etc. In addition to Tokyo, the carrier’s other nonstop Japanese destination is Osaka’s Kansai International Airport. Apart from Tokyo and Osaka flights which are operated direct, Turkish Airlines offers connecting flights from its primary hub in Istanbul to other Japanese cities.
Relaxing coronavirus-related restrictions in Japan
With the gradual recovery of the country from COVID infections, Japan is gearing up to scrap most of its pandemic-related restrictions on international visitors ahead of the autumn season. After more than two years of stringent COVID-19 border control regulations, Japan is finally relaxing its restrictions on arrivals and reopening its borders to tourism. In response to added pressure from the international community, the Japanese government is set to resume pre-pandemic travel and open the country’s door to foreign tourists.
From October, Japan will end visa requirements with the resumption of the pre-pandemic tourist visa waiver system available to several countries. Currently, the daily new arrival entry cap is limited to 50000 tourists who hold a short-term visa for travel.
About Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines is the state-owned flag carrier of Turkey, headquartered in Istanbul Airport. It is one of the largest carriers in the world, with an industry-leading network of 340 destinations and a fleet size of over 350 aircraft. Weathering the horrible pandemic, it is beginning to resemble its pre-pandemic self with the resumption of flights to several destinations, including Saudi Arabia, Durban, Yerevan, Kilimanjaro, etc.
