Japan Airlines (JAL) launched its Tokyo/Narita–Delhi route on January 17.
The airline operates one round-trip flight per day using a Boeing 787-8 aircraft configured with a total of 206 seats: 30 in business class and 176 in economy class. Until February 28, flight JL749 departs Tokyo/Narita at 8:15 p.m. and arrives in Delhi at 3:00 a.m. the following day. Flight JL740 departs Delhi at 4:35 a.m. and arrives at Tokyo/Narita at 3:10 p.m. The flight time is 10 hours and 15 minutes from Tokyo/Narita, and 7 hours and 5 minutes from Delhi.
With this new service, JAL’s India network has expanded to three routes in total, including the existing Tokyo/Haneda–Delhi route and Tokyo/Narita–Bengaluru route. Coinciding with the launch of the Tokyo/Narita–Delhi route, JAL has begun codeshare operations with IndiGo on all three routes.
At a ceremony held at Narita Airport, JAL President Mitsuko Tottori explained, “We have prepared a very convenient schedule for customers traveling from India to North America via Narita.” In addition to traffic between Japan and India, JAL aims to capture demand between India and North America using Narita as a hub, thereby strengthening Narita Airport’s role as a key base.
Motohisa Abe, General Manager of the Network Group, International Route Marketing & Promotion, Route Marketing & Promotion Division at JAL, commented on the scheduling strategy: “This schedule is completely different from the Tokyo/Haneda–Delhi route, which departs Japan at midday. By improving connections with North America, we intend to firmly capture transfer passengers.” From Narita, the new service will connect to eight North American routes, including American Airlines’ Dallas route under a codeshare agreement. JAL expects passenger traffic to be “roughly half Japan–India and half North America–India.”
For the Tokyo/Narita departure, JAL is envisioning connections to IndiGo flights in Delhi. “We are expanding codeshares from Delhi to 30 destinations, allowing passengers to arrive in various cities early in the morning,” Abe emphasized, highlighting the route’s convenience.
The inaugural Delhi-bound flight, JL749 (aircraft registration: JA830J), carried 198 passengers, including 2 infants. It pushed back from Gate 62 at 8:21 p.m. and took off at 8:41 p.m.
▲Tsugaru shamisen performance featured at the ceremony
■ Flight schedule JL749 Tokyo/Narita (20:15) – Delhi (03:00+1) / until February 28 JL749 Tokyo/Narita (20:35) – Delhi (03:00+1) / from March 1 JL740 Delhi (04:35) – Tokyo/Narita (15:10) / until February 28 JL740 Delhi (04:35) – Tokyo/Narita (15:20) / from March 1
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