Virgin Australia-Qantas get equal shares for Haneda slots

Virgin Australia and Qantas will share the two new Tokyo Haneda slot pairs between Australia and Japan, following an IASC (International Air Services Commission) decision on 29-Oct-2019.

With the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games looming, the Japanese Government had released 50 return flight slots per day at Haneda's primarily domestic airport, all to be used for international routes, to be shared equally by foreign and Japanese airlines.

The largest number predictably went to the United States, but Australian airlines were awarded two slot pairs.

Qantas is, with its oneworld partner JAL and subsidiary Jetstar, easily the largest operator between the two countries with up to 46 weekly flights; ANA has 14 and, until the new award, Virgin Australia was absent from the market.