TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Vietnam Airline (VN) officially joined SkyTeam on June 10, adding 20 new destinations to the alliance. After July, the airline is also scheduled to start code-sharing flights with Delta Air Lines (DL), its alliance partner, on the Narita route. The code-share agreement is valid between Vietnam and U.S. However, a stopover in Tokyo is not allowed and the code-sharing excludes the flight between Narita and Vietnam.

Vietnam Airlines is the third Asian carrier which has joined SkyTeam, following China’s China Southern Airlines (CZ) and Korean Air (KE). In mid 2011, China Eastern Airlines (MU) is expected to join SkyTeam.

Source: Travel Vision

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Hokkaido International Airlines better known as Air Do, a Sapporo-based low-cost carrier, earlier this week has announced its plan to commence twice daily flights from Tokyo Haneda Airport to Tokachi-Obihiro airport to begin in March next year. Adding Obihiro to its network of flights, mainly concentrating on flights to cities in Hokkaido, it will be its fifth connecting Tokyo and Hokkaido. Air Do currently operates services from Tokyo to Sapporo (New Chitose airport), Hakodate, Asahikawa and Memambetsu.

The flights will be operated using its latest Boeing B737-500 aircraft, brought into service earlier this month, with a seating capacity for 126 passengers. Air Do now has a fleet of 2 aircraft types consisting of Boeing B737s and Boeing B767s. AirDo and All Nippon Airways have been long-time code-sharing partners, where ANA sells seats on all flights operate by Air Do.

Until 2002, the Haneda-Obihiro sector was served by 2 companies, Japan Airlines and Japan Air System, however after the merger of the two companies left JAL being the sole carrier on this route with no other carriers to compete against for a number of years. It is now hoping that the new entrant could spur some competition, to help raise the service level and bring down the fare, benefiting the users. The additional flights will help revitalize the local economy and stimulate demand for air travel.

The flight schedules have yet to be released while it is currently pending the approval by the relevant ministies.

Japan Airlines (JAL) and China Eastern Airlines (MU) have reached an agreement to expand their codeshare partnership. From June 3, 2010, JAL will start to codeshare on 7 daily MU-operated flights between Shanghai (Pudong) and three other Chinese cities – Xi’an, Wuhan and Shenzhen.

Furthermore, both airlines have agreed to increase the flight frequency – from 4 daily flights to 9, on two existing codeshare routes connecting Shanghai with Chengdu and Chongqing. JAL will have its ‘JL’ indicator on a total of 16 daily flights operated by MU that links Shanghai with the 5 cities in China.

As traffic demand from China to Japan is expected to increase once the Japanese government eases restrictions on the application of individual tourist visas for Chinese nationals from July 1 this year, JAL will prepare to catch this wave and meet the increasing demand. Japan Airlines currently codeshares with China Eastern Airlines on 22 routes between China and Japan, and intends to pursue further enhancement of its China domestic network through such partnerships, for the convenience of its valued customers. Reservations and ticket sales start tomorrow.

* All the above codeshare flights are operated by China Eastern.
**Schedules and timings may be subject to change.
***Codeshare flights are subject to government approval.

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