Sydney Airport welcomes new Osaka-Sydney service

• Sydney Airport welcomes Qantas' new, seasonal Osaka-Sydney service
• Three services per week on Airbus A330 aircraft
• Flights to operate from 14 December 2017 to 24 March 2018

Sydney Airport has welcomed today's announcement by Qantas to offer new non-stop seasonal Osaka-Sydney services from December.

The three-weekly service on an Airbus A330 aircraft will help meet the growing demand for services to Japan during this popular time of year.

Sydney Airport Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kerrie Mather said the new services would provide additional capacity to meet the growing Japanese market.

"Japan is our sixth largest inbound market with an incredible 32% growth last year alone," Ms Mather said.

"We're delighted to welcome an additional Qantas service during the northern winter to help meet this growing demand.

"Osaka is our largest unserved market, so this is great news for our customers and for the local visitor economy."

The new service will operate from 14 December 2017 to 24 March 2018.

Japan is a strong tourism market with 67% of people travelling between Japan and Sydney for holiday purposes.

As well as serving a strong inbound market, Japan is a popular Australian tourism destination, with last year's outbound market growing 20% on 2015 passenger numbers.

After Tokyo, Osaka is the next largest origin and destination market in Japan for Sydney and is estimated to serve more than 120,000 passengers annually.