From December 3rd, All Nippon Airways (ANA) will begin to operate a new direct flight from Milan Malpensa to Tokyo Haneda. Currently, there are no direct flights from Milan to Tokyo, and passengers need to stop in Rome or other connection hubs. Therefore, this new direct route by ANA will open up direct pathways to Asia from Northern Italy, in addition to their over 50 other European routes.
This 13-hour flight will operate three times a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Being able to carry up to 296 passengers, the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner will be the aircraft selected to carry out these flights.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Lufthansa
As a result of their recent business partnership with Germany’s Lufthansa, ANA is now able to serve many more European countries with Japanese travel options. Lufthansa will provide inter-European flights to connect passengers to transit hubs while ANA will provide the long haul flights to Japan. As a result of this, ANA will be able to offer connections from Europe to Japan from over 50 destinations, including London, Paris, Vienna, and Brussels. Soon, Milan to Tokyo will be available, strengthening these cross-continental ties.
Even Italy has no shortage of ways to access Japan via plane. With daily flights to Tokyo from Rome operated by ITA, the Italian flag carrier, previously those from Milan would have had to travel to the capital to reach Japan. From December, however, this is changing.
Other Asian Destinations from Italy
Currently, only seven direct flight routes are operating between Italy and Asian destinations. The only two Southeast Asian destinations are Singapore and Bangkok, Thailand. In India, only New Delhi is being served – and in East Asia- Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, and Taipei can all be directly accessed from Italy. With only seven direct routes from Italy (and soon to become eight with the addition of Tokyo), will airlines push to increase connectivity between Mediterranean European states and the vast continent of Asia?
Do you think more Asian – Mediterranean routes should be established? Comment down below.
