KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 — Malaysia Airlines will be increasing its flight frequency to and from Tokyo, Japan from twice-weekly to thrice-weekly service on its newest Haneda (HND) route, and from five times weekly to daily service on the Narita (NRT) route beginning November 1, 2022.

This comes in anticipation of a surge in travel demand following the reopening of Japan’s borders to international travellers, said Malaysia Airlines in a statement today.

In addition, it said the airline’s frequency into Osaka (KIX) has increased from thrice to five times weekly since October 2022.

Flight MH36 from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to HND departs at 3pm, and the return leg MH37 departs from HND at 12.30am local time; MH88 from KUL to NRT departs at 11.35pm and MH89 departs from NRT at 10.05am local time. MH52 departs from KUL to KIX at 10.40pm and MH53 departs from KIX to KUL at 9.55am local time.

"These routes will be serviced by its flagship aircraft, the A350 or the state-of-the-art A330 aircraft,” it said.

The A350 aircraft is equipped with four business suite seats, 35 business class seats, 27 economy class seats with extra legroom, and 220 economy class seats for a total of 286 seats on the flight.

The A330 aircraft is equipped with 290 seats, comprising 27 seats in business class, 16 economy class with extra legroom and 247 seats in economy class.

Group chief executive officer Captain Izham Ismail said the airline is encouraged by the uptick in forward bookings on flights to Haneda after the recent launch of its twice-weekly service in August this year.

"It is timely to increase the frequency now to accommodate the surge in passenger demand for travel to Japan, following the opening of the country’s border to business and leisure travellers.

"Our operation into Osaka has also gained good traction, with the current capacity at 70 per cent of pre-pandemic level.

"We hope our additional service on the Japanese routes namely Haneda, Narita and Osaka will rebuild traffic between the two nations quickly and spur growth in business and trade.

"The frequency increase will facilitate the airline’s capacity recovery to more than 70 per cent of pre-pandemic levels alongside the recovery of other top performing international destinations including London, Australia, New Zealand and India,” said Izham. — Bernama