Qantas To Resume Brisbane-Tokyo Flights

On Thursday, Qantas will resume service between Brisbane and Tokyo Haneda airports using A330s.

The nine-hour trip will depart on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, joining the Qantas seven-weekly service to Sydney.

Qantas expects to return to Melbourne from Japan in March of next year. However, sister airline Jetstar has already begun Cairns-Narita, Osaka, and Gold Coast-Narita flights.

Virgin has opened up bookings for its route to Japan, which will debut in March next year.

Japan’s previously stringent COVID-19 restrictions were dramatically loosened in October, allowing travellers to enter the country without a visa in many cases.

Formerly, the government limited the number of tourists to 50,000 per day and required all visitors to book their trips through a legitimate tour company.

New entrants can now make Independent travel arrangements; however, they will be required to provide proof of either a triple vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test before they leave the country.

Air New Zealand operates three nonstop weekly flights between Auckland and Tokyo.

From the 12th of December, frequencies will increase to six times per week before returning to daily service on the 13th of February.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reported 370,000 “short-term overseas arrivals” in September 2022, compared to 695,000 in September 2019.

However, for the fiscal year 2021-2022, just 18% of those who visited the country said they were there to holiday, compared to 56% who said they were there to see friends or family.