Airlines around the world have been making major operational changes as a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, largely avoiding Russian and Ukrainian airspace. Japan Airlines new route to London might be one of the most interesting reroutings that we have seen to date.
Most of the flights between Japan and Europe have been canceled because Japan Airlines is no longer using Russian and Ukrainian airspace. Airlines are having to adjust because flights between North Asia and Europe have historically been among the most reliant on Russian airspace.
Oneworld member Japan Airlines is continuing to operate some frequencies to London. On March 2, 2022, Japan Airlines still operated its usual route from Tokyo to London. The plane flew west over Russia.
Japan Airlines operated the flight without using Russian airspace yesterday. The plane flew east instead of west. It headed straight for Alaska, took a northerly route over Canada, flew over central Greenland, and then approached London.
Over three hours was added to the flight time because this time it took 14hr50min.
The flight was forced to return to Japan. On March 2, 2022, Japan Airlines flew the regular route from London to Tokyo over Russian airspace, and it took 11 hours. Over four hours was added to the flight time when the flight was in the other direction.
It seems like this would have been an incredibly scenic route since Northern Canada has some of the most gorgeous views in the world. It's still winter, so looking at flight tracking software, it appears that the flights were in darkness most of the time.
The Tokyo to London flight was briefly in daylight over Northern Canada, while the London to Tokyo flight was in darkness the whole way. It is a long time to be in the dark.
It seems like these flights aren't sustainable. Long haul flights are already expensive to operate, and when you add in several extra hours of flying plus high oil prices, this seems like a stretch. There are flights between other city pairs that are regularly longer, and this is a pretty premium market. I will be curious to see how this plays out.
While avoiding Russian airspace, Japan Airlines is continuing to operate select frequencies to London. Adding hours to the flight time in each direction is what this is causing the airline to do.
I never imagined that a scheduled flight between Japan and the United Kingdom would operate over the United States.
What do you think about Japan Airlines?
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