Last Saturday (5) ITA Airways inaugurated its flights between Rome – Fiumicino (FCO) and Tokyo – Haneda (HND), the company’s first service in the Asia-Pacific region. The last operation between Italy and Japan was on March 29, 2020, on a service operated by the defunct Alitalia between the Italian capital and Narita Airport (NRT).
Flight AZ 792, operated on an Airbus A350 registered EI-IFE and christened “Alessandro Del Piero”, took off from Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport (FCO) at 15:37 local time and landed at Haneda Airport (HND) at 11:26 the following day, after 11 hours and 49 minutes.
According to data obtained by Aviacionline through the National Entity for Civil Aviation (ENAC) 197,544 passengers were mobilized in 2019 between Rome and Tokyo, where Alitalia was the only airline operating on this service. Prior to the pandemic, Japan was Italy’s third largest market in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of seats per kilometers offered (ASK).
Flight Itinerary
- Rome – Tokyo Flight AZ 792 FCO 15:25 – HND 11:20+1 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
- Tokyo – Rome Flight AZ 793 HND 13:25 – FCO 20:30 Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The route is operated on Airbus A350-900 aircraft with a capacity of 334 passengers in two classes (33 Business Class/301 Economy Class) and promotional fares are available from EUR 530 each way. As of March 27, 2023, the airline will increase this service to daily flights.
In addition to its Tokyo – Haneda (HND) operations, ITA Airways plans to begin non-stop services to Delhi (DEL) and Male, Maldives (MLE) in December, the carrier will offer 5,576 weekly seats between Rome (FCO) and Asia-Pacific.
Prior to the pandemic, the defunct Alitalia operated services from the Italian capital and Milan – Malpensa (MXP) to Tokyo Narita (NRT) and had planned to operate to Haneda Airport (HND) by the summer of 2020, but these plans were suspended in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In previous years, the Italian operator even offered non-stop operations to Osaka – Kansai (KIX), which ended in March 2015.
See also: ITA Airways debuts the Airbus A350 on its Miami route
