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Japan Airlines
is to launch scheduled late night domestic air cargo flights between Tokyo and Kumamoto in central Kyushu, from July 7.
Kumamoto is located at the center of Kyushu, southernmost of the four main islands of Japan. Kyushu is a major center of high technology industries and is also a
major source of fresh farm and marine produce for the Tokyo market.
The new flights will initially operate three times a week,
increasing to daily service from November.
JAL will operate the new domestic cargo flights using the belly space of passenger aircraft. The aircraft to be used are Airbus 300-600R types that the airline uses for
passenger flights during the day. These aircraft have belly space for 10 tons of cargo. JAL has chosen to use these aircraft because of their low noise rating, in
consideration of communities near the airport.
To further minimize noise disturbance to local communities, the flights are being timed to arrive at Kumamoto as early as possible and to depart for Tokyo as late as
possible. Cockpit crew will make maximum use of noise abatement procedures, such as refraining from using reverse thrust on landing as much as possible. They will
also use reduced power landing approaches and selected take-off patterns to reduce the flight noise imprint on the ground. In preparation for the new cargo flights, in
February JAL made test-flights to assess night noise effects in the Kumamoto Airport area.
JAL expects that demand on the route will include small packages, business documents and perishable produce, with total two-way demand running close to 20 tons
per day with the A300-600B. In future JAL plans to use the Boeing 777, which has a belly cargo capacity of 15 tons (30 tons round-trip) and is also a low-noise aircraft.
JAL has chosen Kumamoto to launch domestic late-night cargo service partly because the airport is at the center of an agricultural region producing seasonal crops of
fruit and vegetables in great demand in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
The airline expects that Kumamoto Airport will become a major new logistics center. It lies at the heart of Kyushu, is easily accessible by highway from all over the island
and is only 10 minutes’ drive from the nearest highway interchange.
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