Sunday, February 7, 2016

Peach Aviation starts Haneda – Seoul.

On February 6th, Peach Aviation [MM/APJ] inaugurated Tokyo/Haneda [HND/RJTT] – Seoul/Incheon [ICN/RKSI] (Peach Aviation announces Haneda – Seoul.). It became their second route from the downtown Tokyo airport after Taipei (Peach Aviation inaugurates Haneda – Taipei.), which was only launched in August 2015, and their 10th international route overall. Meanwhile, Seoul will now be served from three points: Okinawa/Naha [OKA/ROAH], Osaka/Kansai [KIX/RJBB], and Haneda. All flights are operated by 180-seat Airbus A320s.

Airbus A320-214 JA813P at Haneda moments after arriving from Seoul's Incheon as the inaugural flight. Peach's fleet boasts a modest 17 A320s, with the next example not due until October this year. (Photo: Aviation Wire)

The inaugural inbound flight MM1008 departed Incheon on February 5th at 2301 KST with a full load of 181 passengers including an infant, and touched down at Haneda past midnight at 0106 JST. A320-214 JA813P was assigned. Meanwhile, the maiden outbound leg MM1009 departed Haneda on February 6th at 0207 JST carrying 173 passengers including two infants, and arrived at Incheon early in the morning at 0442 KST. There is no time difference between Tokyo and Seoul.

Flight Schedule:
Haneda – Seoul/Incheon NEW 1 daily with A320-200.
MM1009 HND 0200 – 0435 ICN 320 Daily *From Feb/6.
MM1008 ICN 2250 – 0100(+1) HND 320 Daily *From Feb/5.

As with Peach's Haneda – Taipei link, the new service to Korea also uses the heavily-regulated airport's under-utilized midnight slot-pairs reserved exclusively for international flights. Peach added a fourth round-trip between Kansai and Seoul from the same day, and after that aircraft arrives into Seoul, it turns around to become the inbound flight to Haneda. After a brief 60-minute stay, it returns to Seoul as the outbound red-eye flight from Haneda, in time for the first flight of the day from Seoul back to Kansai.

"If you feel like you're up for a Korean barbeque or beauty salon tomorrow, Peach has been providing the answer for those in Osaka. Now we'll be offering that to everyone in Tokyo," said Shinichi Inoue, CEO of Peach, who was present at Haneda on the day. "Travel has become much more affordable and Japan and the rest of Asia are now closer than ever. We're looking forward to opening up our third and fourth international routes from Haneda," Mr. Inoue continued, without naming any destinations. Haneda's current constraints confine Peach to arrivals and departures between 2300 and 0600 only, so the third and fourth will also likely be existing cities on Peach's network if it wishes not to sacrifice aircraft utilization. Hong Kong [HKG/VHHH] and Kaohsiung [KHH/RCKH] would be natural choices.

Source: Aviation Wire, 2016 February 6th. (in Japanese)

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