JAL announces winter season flight increases, collaboration with ANA on Haneda-Okayama route

For the upcoming winter season, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced it will increase its seat capacity to Europe, resume flights on the Tokyo Narita-Shanghai Pudong route, and collaborate with All Nippon Airways (ANA) on domestic flights to Okayama.

JAL will strengthen its flights to Europe with the expanded deployment of its flagship Airbus A350-1000 aircraft to London and Paris. The airline will deploy the A350-1000 on the second daily Haneda-London flight (JL41/JL42). The flagship aircraft will also be deployed daily on the Haneda-Paris route (JL45/JL46) from September 2026.

Services on the Haneda-Helsinki route will continue to be operated daily.

“By expanding direct flight options between Japan and Europe and leveraging connections with JAL Group domestic flights, JAL will contribute to further driving inbound tourism to regional areas in Japan.”

With the current suspension of the Haneda-Doha route given the current situation in the Middle East, travel demand to/from the Middle East and Africa will be accomodated through codeshare services operated by Qatar Airways.

JAL will resume flights on the Narita-Shanghai Pudong route from October 25. Services on the Haneda-Hong Kong route will be increased during the Lunar New Year period.

JTA to go Double Daily on Naha (Okinawa)-Taipei

On the Naha-Taipei Taoyuan route, JAL’s subsidiary Japan Transocean Air (JTA) will add to its current day-time flights on the route with an extra evening service during September and October. It will then operate regularly from late October to March 2027.

Domestic Flight Increases

JAL will increase flights on key domestic routes from Haneda to both Fukuoka and Naha, and expand its flights to Hokkaido and Okinawa from Osaka Itami.

Following the summer, an extra daily flight each will be added on the Haneda-Fukuoka route (17 to 18) and Haneda-Naha (13 to 14) starting October 25.

As part of the service increases from Itami Airport, JAL will launch a new Itami-Obihiro route in December while it will turn its flights from the Osaka-area hub to Asahikawa and Memanbetsu from a seasonal summer service to a year-round operation. Services will be increased from Itami to both Sapporo New Chitose and Naha.

Larger Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft featuring its First Class product will be used on the Haneda-Miyako route during the spring break season.

By February 2027, JAL subsidiary Japan Air Commuter (JAC) will introduce two more ATR 72-600 aircraft to service in February 2027.

Collaboration with ANA on Haneda-Okayama Flights

In collaboration with ANA, both airlines announced domestic flight scheduled collaboration on the Haneda-Okayama route during the upcoming winter 2026 season.

“The Expert Panel on the Future of Domestic Aviation proposed implementing measures to maintain domestic aviation networks and ensure user convenience while maintaining airline competition as a general principle. As part of route coordination, JAL and ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS CO., LTD. adjusted schedules on the Tokyo (Haneda)-Okayama route. By securing time intervals between flights that previously departed at similar times, customer choices and convenience have been improved.”