On Sunday June 2 Japan Airlines starts a new three times a week service between Tokyo and Amoy (Xiamen), China, increasing the number of Chinese cities served by Japan's biggest airline to seven.
JAL's first flight to China was an October 1972 charter to pick up a giant panda to Japan. Scheduled services started in September 1974. This year (2002) is the 30th anniversary of formalized relations between China and Japan and after the April 18 opening of a second runway at Tokyo's Narita airport JAL's services between the two countries have taken a great leap forward with the expansion of frequencies on existing routes, the opening of a new route between Nagoya and Shanghai and now the new route to Amoy.
JAL now offers flights to China from six cities in Japan, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Kagoshima and Okinawa. Destinations in JAL's China network are Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Qingdao, Dalian, Tianjin and Amoy (Xiamen) and with the addition of Amoy the JAL China network covers 17 routes.
After October 2002 and the completion of the first phase of the JAL/Japan Air System merger, the extended new Japan Airlines Group China network will include three cities now served by Japan Air System from Tokyo: Kunming, Guangzhou and
Xian.
First flight
|
Sunday June 2, 2002
|
|
Days of
operation
|
Sunday,
Tuesday, Thursday
|
|
Weekly
frequency
|
3
|
|
Aircraft type
|
Boeing 767
|
Flight number from Narita:
|
JL607
|
|
Flight number
from Xiamen:
|
JL608
|
|
Departure
Narita
|
09:30
|
|
Arrival Xiamen
|
12.35
|
Departure Xiamen
|
15:00 (15:05
Tues)
|
|
Arrival Narita
|
19:35 (19:40
Tues)
|
|
Flight time:
Tokyo-Xiamen
|
4 hrs 55 mins
|
|
Flight time
Xiamen-Tokyo
|
3 hrs 35 mins
|
Operational Flight distance
|
2,445
kms
|
|
JAL Mileage
Bank Rating (FFP)
|
1,519
miles
|
|
