LONDON – Malaysia Airlines has announced an increase in its flight services from Kuala Lumpur to Tokyo Haneda and Tokyo Narita airports. Services to Osaka are also increasing. The move is in response to the increased route demand as Japan’s borders re-open.
Malaysia Airlines will increase its flight frequency from twice-weekly to thrice-weekly service on its newest Haneda (HND) route.
The five times weekly service on the Narita (NRT) route will increase to a daily service starting 1 November 2022, in anticipation of surge in travel demand following the reopening of Japan’s borders to international travellers.
In addition to the Tokyo services, the airline’s frequency into Osaka (KIX) has increased from thrice to five times weekly.
Flight MH36 from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to HND departs at 3.00pm, and the return leg MH37 departs HND at 12.30am. MH88 from KUL to NRT departs at 11.35pm and MH89 departs NRT at 10.05am. MH52 departs KUL to KIX at 10.40pm and MH53 departs KIX to KUL at 9.55am.
These routes will be serviced by the airline’s flagship aircraft, the A350 or state-of-the-art A330 aircraft.
The A350 aircraft is equipped with 4 Business Suite seats, 35 Business Class seats, 27 Economy Class seats with extra legroom, and 220 Economy Class seats for a total of 286 seats on the flight.
Meanwhile, the A330 aircraft, is equipped with 290 seats, comprising 27 seats in Business Class, 16 Economy with extra legroom, and 247 seats in Economy Class.
Malaysia Airlines statement
Group Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Airlines, Captain Izham Ismail said, “We are encouraged by the healthy uptick in forward bookings on flights to Haneda after the successful launch of our twice-weekly service in August this year.”
“It is timely to increase the frequency now to accommodate the surge in passenger demand for travel to Japan, following the opening of the country’s border to business and leisure travellers.”
“Our operation into Osaka has also gained good traction, with current capacity stands at 70% of pre-pandemic level. We hope our additional service on the Japanese routes namely Haneda, Narita and Osaka will rebuild traffic between the two nations quickly and spur economic growth, whilst helping business and trade.”
“The frequency increase will facilitate the airline’s capacity recovery to more than 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels alongside the recovery of other top performing international destinations including London, Australia, New Zealand and India.”
New flight scheduling
Travellers to Japan will be able to travel on Malaysia Airlines or its joint business partner, Japan Airlines and benefit from the ease of a single ticket, check-in services, boarding, and baggage-check operations.
The flight schedule on Japan routes starting 1 November 2022 is as follows:
