Flying to Tokyo for upcoming meetings? Planning to spend some free time at the 2020 Olympics on 24 July to 9 August? When arriving in Tokyo now, you can save more than an hour of commuting into the city. Qantas and Virgin flights will soon land at Haneda airport – rather than Narita – which is closer to downtown Tokyo. In fact, it’s just 14km south of Tokyo Station.

In addition, Virgin is now codesharing with Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA), which will soon offer double daily flights from Sydney to Tokyo.

These year-round flights to Haneda will operate daily from 29 March, and flights are now on sale.

Choosing flights

Here are the new options when flying to Tokyo’s Haneda airport:

• Qantas: Flights between Melbourne and Haneda will operate daily, serviced by an Airbus A330 aircraft, replacing its Melbourne-Narita service. This will join Qantas’ daily Sydney-Tokyo flights, now landing at Haneda. Qantas also plans to add a second daily flight between Sydney and Haneda in the near future.
• Virgin: Flights between Brisbane and Tokyo will operate daily, serviced by an Airbus 330-200.

• ANA  has a new twice-daily schedule between Sydney and Haneda, featuring a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.

Getting there

The Haneda airport terminal connects directly to the underground train station on the Keikyu Line, and to the 3rd-floor Tokyo Monorail line. Major car rental companies have counters in the arrival hall.

Keen to visit the Olympics in Tokyo?

Planning to mix business and pleasure when visiting Japan? After all, if you're going to a meeting in the middle of the year, you may have a chance to go to the Olympics as well. The Summer Olympic Games will be held in more than 40 venues, the majority in and around Tokyo, with some events for soccer, baseball, and softball further afield. In the capital, the venues are in two areas: the Heritage Zone, which makes use of infrastructure from the city’s 1964 Games, and, closer to the water, the newly developed Tokyo Bay Zone.