Japan Airlines (JAL) has just announced its first new long haul route in years…
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Japan Airlines launching Tokyo to Doha flights
As of the summer of 2024, Japan Airlines will launch a new daily year-round service between Tokyo Haneda (HND) and Doha (DOH) using a Boeing 787-9. The Tokyo to Doha route covers a distance of 5,139 miles, so you can expect that the flight will take an average of around 10 hours in each direction (with the westbound flight being longer than the eastbound one).
This will be the first nonstop flight operated to the Middle East by a Japanese airline. The schedule for the route hasn’t yet been announced, but it should be revealed in the near future.
Doha is of course the mega-hub of oneworld airline Qatar Airways. Currently Japan Airlines codeshares on Qatar Airways’ route between Doha and Tokyo, and that will continue to be the case even after Japan Airlines starts its own service.
Presumably the primary intent here is to feed Japan Airlines passengers into Qatar Airways’ network. Doha is an efficient connecting point for those traveling to destinations across the Middle East, Africa, South America, Europe, and beyond.
Doha’s growing oneworld partner presence
Qatar Airways really dominates Doha Hamad Airport, though it’s impressive the extent to which other oneworld airlines have started service to the airport. The airport now has flights from oneworld partners American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Royal Jordanian, and SriLankan Airlines.
It’s my understanding that Qatar has been offering some very lucrative incentives for partners to launch service to Doha, beyond the typical kinds of offers we see for airlines starting new routes (like waived landing fees, etc.). So I imagine that has contributed to the amount of growth we’ve seen from oneworld partners.
Filling planes to and from Doha is easy, given how much of the world’s population lives within a short distance of the Middle East. The challenge is filling these planes profitably, since these are often flights in fairly low yield markets, with passengers traveling very long distances.
Bottom line
Japan Airlines will launch a new daily route between Tokyo and Doha as of the summer of 2024 using a Boeing 787. The exact schedule and launch date haven’t yet been announced, but should be in the near future.
This is Japan Airlines’ first new long haul route in years, and it’s also part of the continued growth we’ve seen from oneworld partners at Doha Airport.
What do you make of Japan Airlines launching Doha flights?
Unless there is enough demand between Tokyo and Doha to have another flight I would certainly choose Qatar over JAL.
It occurs to me that Far East to Africa or South Asia is a market that could use more service. I wonder if a Tokyo to Nairobi or Tokyo to Johannesburg nonstop flight could work for example. I don't think it would, otherwise JAL or ANA would have flown it when they got 787s. But there's also the factor that Japanese airlines are very conservative with international routes and Japanese in general seem to have...
It occurs to me that Far East to Africa or South Asia is a market that could use more service. I wonder if a Tokyo to Nairobi or Tokyo to Johannesburg nonstop flight could work for example. I don't think it would, otherwise JAL or ANA would have flown it when they got 787s. But there's also the factor that Japanese airlines are very conservative with international routes and Japanese in general seem to have little desire to travel abroad besides to Hawaii. I guess this would be the next best thing given all the easy connections to Africa and South Asia that DOH provides.
But of course, I can't finish without saying this: Qatar human rights violations.
Define human right violations? Every western country is no better than any country in middle east regarding Human right violations! Stop bs
It will be the first nonstop scheduled flight by a Japanese carrier to the Middle East.
JAL used to fly select Middle East destinations in the past during the Cold War, such as Cairo, Tehran, Jeddah and I believe Beirut and Dhahran also, with a couple of stops in-between in Asia.
Just found this blog article in Japanese that has a photo of JAL international network map in 1984. Since the Soviet airspace was restricted back then they had two major routes to Europe, one polar via Anchorage and the other through Asia and the Middle East. Here we could check that indeed JAL flew to Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jeddah, and Cairo. It's off-topic but I thought was interesting to highlight.
https://ameblo.jp/md11ys11dc10/entry-12487849713.html
Yes, it was called the Silk route to Europe. It was when JAL was government owned so they flew to the middle east mainly for political reasons. It did HKG or BKK, a few stops in the ME and then ended in Europe. The final silk route terminated in Athens.
Doesn’t JAL have a close relationship with Emirates?
They codeshare and offer partner awards. Nothing like a JV.
Pictures of JAL 'planes in two consecutive posts.
Different photos, but both of them in the rain!
Does someone in the chain have a disagreement with them, or are they your own photos and it always rains when you go to Japan?!
Just more collusion to make the tickets exceedingly expensive for flight from Qatar. No more competition from Emirates, Lufthansa, KLM...
Is there any possibility of flying to Dubai or abu dhabi in the future?
Why would JAL, a OW member, fly to either of those non-OW hubs which are right in Doha's backyard?
Dubai is the primary base of operations for most Japanese companies in the Middle East. JL already serves that market through code sharing with EK.
I think Russian airspace closure also contributed this new service. Helsinki cannot be a viable hub for Japan Airlines for foreseeable future and Doha can provide connection to the cities once served via Helsinki without so much time loss, considering longer flight time to current direct service to Europe from Japan.
I suspect the flight will be considerably longer than 5,165 miles, owing to airspace restrictions over many of the countries under that line. The current QR flight looks like it usually tracks an extra 400-600 miles; blocked at 10:30 eastbound, 11:55 westbound.
It really depends on the season what route the take in each direction, The Himalays and the winds around the are quite a obstacle. Once I have taken the route over The Himalays, but that does seem exceedingly rare...
Often the Tokyo to Doha is super quick, coming in a a couple of hours early. But sometimes they do need the full schedule and a bit.
In somewhat related news, Air France will resume operating to Abu Dhabi from October 29th, most likely to connect onto Etihad’s network
Finnair started flights from HEL, ARN, and CPH; AA started a route from JFK. At the same time QR stopped flying the same amount of flights. So is it just a matter of keeping the traffic in to the hub while QR struggles with the fleet expansion?
Yes, I find it very likely that this is a similar deal where QR will cancel their flight, JL fill fly a similar schedule to the QR one and QR will buy most seats on the plane. Practically a wetlease.
Actually, Qatar may not do this with their Tokyo route. Currently, QR has a daily flight into NRT and another into HND. They used to have 2x daily HND pre-pandemic but I don't think that had come back yet. However, Qatar's flights between Tokyo and Doha are almost always packed, even during off season. And their NRT flight is not well timed for connections to certain destinations, which often requires a 16+ hour layover at...
Actually, Qatar may not do this with their Tokyo route. Currently, QR has a daily flight into NRT and another into HND. They used to have 2x daily HND pre-pandemic but I don't think that had come back yet. However, Qatar's flights between Tokyo and Doha are almost always packed, even during off season. And their NRT flight is not well timed for connections to certain destinations, which often requires a 16+ hour layover at DOH. JAL's flight would likely be at another time, and due to the demand, I doubt QR will decrease any flights. If anything, they just aren't bringing back a HND flight they operated pre-pandemic.
Yes and if you read correctly on the JAL website it actually says the existing QR flights will stay and JAL will continue to codeshare on those, this 3rd daily flight is likely to be timed for additional connections (i.e Africa, Brazil, Argentina)
Qatar only had 1 daily flight to Haneda in 2019.
There are no slots for a significantly different departure time. Haneda is heavily slot restricted, and not part of any open skies agreement.