On October 5, JAL held a ceremony at Narita Airport to commemorate the 60th anniversary of its Frankfurt, Germany, service.
The company opened its Frankfurt route on October 4, 1962, a southbound route from Tokyo (Haneda) to Hong Kong, Bangkok, Calcutta, Karachi, Kuwait, Cairo, Rome, Frankfurt, London, and nine other cities. The aircraft was a Convair 880, the fastest aircraft at the time.
Later, it opened a northbound route (Tokyo to Anchorage-Hamburg-Frankfurt), and when Narita Airport opened in 1978, it was transferred to Narita in 1985; in April 1988, it opened a direct flight from Narita to Frankfurt.
Yuji Akasaka, JAL Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer, who took the stage at the ceremony, emphasized the positioning and depth of the relationship with Frankfurt, saying, “Although we have Hamburg and Dusseldorf, Frankfurt has been our main gateway to Germany (for JAL) with consistent service for the past 60 years. He emphasized the depth of the relationship between JAL and Frankfurt.
Mr. Akasaka also commented on the easing of border control measures, such as the removal of the daily cap on the number of passengers entering Japan from October 11, saying, “It has been difficult for inbound customers to come to Japan, but this is a chance to bring them back. The airline industry sincerely welcomes this opportunity. Many people from overseas have expressed their desire to visit Japan as soon as possible, and we are finally able to meet their expectations.
Corona Disaster has been struggling to maintain its routes and has been trying to maintain its network somehow, even if the number of flights is dropped. （It is said that it will take until 2025 for (international) airline demand to fully return, but the biggest bottleneck is the shortage of staff to handle planes at airports around the world. We expect this to be resolved by 2025 or so,” he said, explaining his outlook for the future.
On the other hand, regarding the domestic market, he said, “Expectations are high, as the national travel support will start on October 11, as well. It had completely cooled off, but it will be a catalyst for people to move. In particular, I hope it will be a trigger for long-distance travel,” he said, expressing hope for stimulating demand for air travel.
The Narita-Frankfurt route (JL407/408) is currently operated five times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), but the frequency is scheduled to return to daily from December.
© Source travel watch