Tokyo: Emirates airline said on Monday it is negotiating with the Japanese government to operate a daily direct service to Tokyo, one day after it inaugurated its five-flights-a-week route.
Emirates on Sunday launched its non-stop service to Tokyo's Narita Airport, its second gateway in Japan after Osaka, and the 102nd destination on its global network. Emirates will operate a five-a-week service to Tokyo but a senior airline official said the company hopes to upgrade it to daily operation "as soon as possible".
"We continue negotiating and hopefully we will get [an agreement] sooner rather than later," Richard Vaughan, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice-President, Commercial Operations Worldwide, told Gulf News during a press briefing in Tokyo Monday.
"There was a lack of slots [in Narita airport] because of runaway length. We wanted to come to Tokyo when we first started negotiations in 1998. Initially we were not able to get any right to Tokyo because of slot issues so the Japanese government offered us [the right to] Kansai [the international airport of Osaka], which we readily took on board and we developed that into a successful route," he said.
Two runways
Kosaburo Morinaka, Narita airport director, told reporters that in October, two runways were added, allowing for 20,000 additional flights on the airport's already busy schedule.
The new Emirates service to Tokyo "helps to connect two important global hubs of development and growth, Japan and the UAE", Vaughan said.
"Tokyo will play an integral role on our route network and the launch of services to the city highlights Emirates' commitment to the Japanese market.
"During the seven years of our operation to and from Osaka, Emirates has been actively promoting Japan across its network, which now covers six continents, and we have spent $14 million (Dh51.38 million) on these promotions in the last two years, further demonstrating the importance of Japan to Emirates," he said.
The new Emirates service to Tokyo started on the same day the other UAE national carrier, Etihad started a direct service to the Japanese capital.
Qatar airways, another GCC carrier, will soon fly direct to Tokyo.
However, Vaughan downplayed the competition, saying Emirates was counting on its long years of experience and "excellent" products offered to passengers and cargo clients.
"We respect them as competitors but certainly we don't fear them," he said. "We have a great product already, but we are not complacent, we continue to develop and improve our products. Our network is far superior to most of our competitors' ... and ... Etihad and Qatar Airways ... coming here doesn't affect our thinking," he added.
