Coming in September: Flights to Japan in just 11½ hours
The shortest current flight from Tel Aviv to Tokyo, with a 45 minute stop-over in Warsaw, takes 15 hours and 10 minutes.
By HERB KEINONUpdated: FEBRUARY 7, 2019 02:50Weekly direct flights between Israel and Japan announced in Tokyo by Yaffa Ben-Ari, Israel's ambassador to Japan (l); Hiroshi Tabata, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency (c); and Hiromi Tagawa, chairman of the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA).(photo credit: FOREIGN MINISTRY)
The Far East will start feeling a little less far in September with the inauguration of weekly direct flights from Tel Aviv to Tokyo that will cut some four hours off travel time from Israel to Japan.Israel’s ambassador to Japan, Yaffe Ben-Ari, announced the inauguration of the first ever direct flight for tourists from Israel to Japan at a ceremony in Tokyo with Hiroshi Tabata, commissioner of the Japan Tourism Agency, and Hiromi Tagawa. chairman of the Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA). The flight will be a charter that three Japanese travel agencies will hire from Sun d’Or.“Charter flights are the first step toward achieving our main objective – regular direct flights between the two countries,” Ben-Ari said. “These flights will help put Israel on the Japanese tourist map, and signal to the local market that Israel is an attractive destination. In parallel, Israeli tourists will benefit from a shorter and more comfortable route to Japan – a growing destination for outgoing tourism from Israel.”The shortest current flight from Tel Aviv to Tokyo, with a 45 minute stop-over in Warsaw, takes 15 hours and 10 minutes. The next shortest flight is 15 hours and 45 minutes, with a nearly two hour stopover in Moscow.The charter flight in September is expected to take 11 hours and 30 minutes.“We hope this step will encourage visits from Japanese business people to Israel and will contribute to strengthen trade and the economic connections between the two countries,” said Gilad Cohen, the Foreign Ministry’s Deputy director-general for Asia and the Pacific.The flights come at a time when Japanese investment in Israel is growing rapidly. Last month, during a meeting with visiting Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this growth is “astronomical,” and is now nearly $5 billion, 120 times more than it was in recent years.In 2017, the two countries did some $2.8b. in trade, with Japan enjoying a $1.3b trade surplus.The flights are also expected to lead to a significant increase in tourism between the two countries. According to Tourism Ministry figures, only 17,000 tourists arrived in 2018 from Japan, compared to some 40,000 from South Korea, 58,000 from India, and 114,000 from China.Tourism from China and India has skyrocketed over the last few years as direct flights were initiated and expanded with those countries.According to Foreign Ministry figures, Israeli tourism to Japan jumped in 2018 to 35,000, compared to only 15,000 five years earlier.
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