Emirates Airline is introducing a first of its kind service for its Tokyo Haneda flight, which I think many passengers will appreciate.
In this post:
Emirates’ free Tokyo Haneda bus service
As of September 1, 2023, Emirates is introducing a new complimentary bus service for passengers arriving at Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND), making the Dubai-based carrier the first airline in Japan to offer a service like this. This is intended for economy class passengers, given that first and business class passengers can use Emirates’ chauffeur drive service.
Emirates’ bus service will operate to two prominent drop-off locations — Tokyo Station (TYQ) at Marunouchi North entrance, and Shinagawa Station (SGS) at Konan entrance bus stop number seven. The bus will depart from the Haneda Airport Terminal 3 charter bus parking spot:
- Bus EK7034 will depart from Haneda Airport at 12:01AM and arrive at Tokyo Station at 12:40AM
- Bus EK7036 will depart from Haneda Airport at 12:01AM and arrive at Shinagawa Station at 12:30AM
For what it’s worth, Emirates flight EK312 arrives at Haneda Airport at 10:35PM. Since this is a busy time for arrivals, there’s roughly 90 minutes for passengers to clear immigration, collect their checked bags, etc. In the event of a flight delay, this bus service could operate as late as 1AM.
Is this kind of bus service really needed?
Back in the day, a vast majority of long haul airlines operated to Narita Airport, which was Tokyo’s main international airport. However, in recent years, Haneda Airport has increasingly made slots available for long haul flights. The benefit of Haneda Airport is that it’s much closer to Tokyo.
While the airport is in theory seamlessly connected to the city via train, the catch is that train service stops running to most destinations right around 11:30PM, which is oddly early given the number of late night arrivals. Of course airlines would largely love to arrive earlier than that, but given the Haneda Airport slot restrictions, airlines don’t have much flexibility.
Many passengers are probably rushing to get off Emirates’ flight to catch the last train of the night, only to then end up needing to book an expensive taxi.
Given these complications, this is a valuable perk for Emirates to offer. I am curious how many people will end up taking this bus, though. While this is nice, it potentially requires waiting around for quite some time, and then you still have to get from the train station to your final destination.
Emirates also flies daily to Narita Airport, so if you ask me, what would be really nice is if the airline operated a bus service from there to Tokyo.
Bottom line
Emirates is introducing a free bus service between Haneda Airport and two key train stations in Tokyo. On the surface this might seem unnecessary, given how well connected Haneda Airport is to the city. The catch is that Emirates’ flight arrives late at night, and the trains stop running quite early.
I’m sure this is a feature that many passengers will appreciate. It’s also a not-insignificant investment on Emirates’ part, though presumably the airline hopes this will get consumers to choose Emirates over a competitor.
What do you make of Emirates’ new bus service at Haneda Airport?
I think some airlines need to offer bus service between the two airports. If you have a connection to change airports in Tokyo it is very inconvenient and expensive.
This is a good perk for Emirates to offer. If they sell tickets, I'm sure other late arrival airline pax would take this trip to the city. I booked an airport hotel at HND because of a late night arrival recently.
theres no other airline flying direct from dxb to hnd, so really no competition on this routing.
The vast majority of passengers presumably will be connecting through DBX, though, instead of solely flying DBX to HND. So they have choice.
There's a perfectly lovely (and fast) train connecting Narita and Tokyo. Granted, it's not as swanky as an "Emirates Bus" full of coach passengers, but it does the job quite nicely.
What does that have to do with flights landing at HND late in the evening?
@Santos reading comprehension fail
@RF missing one small paragraph in the post is not a “comprehension”
fail lol. Total pseud
I don't see much value in this bus service other than those who booked hotels in the immediate vicinity as trains and metro stop running by the time they reach their destinations. The last train outbound can be a packed mayhem with those desperate to get home or drunk as a skunk.
that's not a bad deal....each passenger will save $20ish from taking limo bus.
Monorail is 2330 for last service, Keikyu line traine leaves same time as bus from same terminal
Can you purchase this flight/bus without an EK flight? Seems like an evening express to downtown tokyo.
Emirates will never provide this service from NRT. The EK flight arrives at NRT at 6pm and then you have a lot of choices of the public transports from there to Tokyo.
I wasn't aware that Shinagawa had an IATA code. Also, the last train on the Keikyu Airport Line departs from HND for Shinagawa and Tokyo station around midnight. It would be more benefitting if EK offered a complimentary Airport Line service, similar to what CZ offers at PKX and CA at PEK.
There is no chauffeur drive for Tokyo according to this link: https://www.emirates.com/us/english/experience/chauffeur-drive/
So even J and F may make use of this bus.
That's right!
The subway stops running at 10pm. So the only other option at midnight would be a $100 something taxi.
The subway doesn't go to Haneda; only the Keikyu Line and Tokyo Monorail do. Also, Tokyo's two subway systems stop running at midnight.
I am not aware of any rail service running in greater Tokyo area that stops before 11.30pm. Could you elaborate?
The Airport Limousine Bus operates 24/7 to/from many designations throughout Tokyo from/to both airports.
That hasn't been true since 2020.
@Icarus Nope.
FYI, EK318 from DXB to NRT scheduled to land at 5:35PM so you can take buses/trains to Tokyo from Narita without difficulties.
And it seems currently Tokyo (Haneda/Narita) is not listed among cities where chauffer service is available for premium passengers on Emirates’ webpage - please correct me if I am wrong.
You are correct!
Very cool. Agreed, would be great to see a service from NRT.
Could J passengers who are booked on points (and don't have access to Chauffeur Drive) take the bus?
You would assume so
I hope that is the case.