BC Business
All Nippon Airways' daily service to Tokyo-Haneda begins March 30, 2014
All Nippon Airways’ daily service to Tokyo-Haneda begins March 30, 2014
Vancouver’s added a new connection to Tokyo Monday as the Vancouver Airport Authority announced a new daily route between Tokyo Haneda Airport and YVR. Vancouver will be the All Nippon Airways’ first Canadian destination, and Vancouver’s first connection to Haneda Airport, which at 15 km from downtown Tokyo is significantly more convenient than Tokyo-Narita, which is already served by three flights a day (two passenger and one cargo) from Vancouver. Haneda is the second-busiest airport in Asia, and fourth in the world. According to a press release, it expects to serve passengers bound for other destinations in Asia in addition to the Japanese market. B.C. has long held significant ties to Asia’s second-biggest economy: according to the airport authority, $101 milliion of B.C. exports left YVR for Japan in 2012, and the three flights combined added a total of $99.3 million to the province’s economy. “This new service will offer B.C. businesses more options to reach customers in central Tokyo, but also throughout Japan and Asia thanks to ANA’s strong domestic and international networks,” said Craig Richmond, president and CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority in a statement. Air Canada and Japan Airlines operate daily non-stop passenger flights between Japan and B.C.; the new flight increase total capacity on the YVR-Tokyo route by 30 per cent.