Peach Aviation announced on Thursday the launch of new daily service from Tokyo-Narita to Ishigaki. The airline also announced new service from Osaka (Kansai) to Amami. Peach will be the only carrier operating direct service on both routes.
On Thursday, Peach Aviation (Peach) announced an expansion of its Tokyo-Narita network with a new daily nonstop flight to Ishigaki. With the new route, Peach now offers six domestic and two international routes from Tokyo-Narita (NRT). The carrier will now be the only airline to offer direct service from NRT to Ishigaki. A ceremony was held Thursday at Narita Airport and guests were served pineapple juice from Ishigaki Island and “high-fived” as they boarded the inaugural flight (MM533). At the celebration, Peach Aviation’s Vice President, Takeaki Mori said,
“Thanks to all our passengers, the first flight is almost fully booked. This has reaffirmed my belief that Ishigaki is an attractive destination. As a ‘flying train,’ Peach will continue to actively expand the network from Narita Airport.”
With the addition of the new route, Peach now serves eight destinations from Narita, making it their second largest hub after Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, where the airline is based. Peach currently offers 13 domestic and six international routes from Osaka-Kansai and has been serving Ishigaki from Kansai since 2013. With the new Narita-Ishigaki service, customers from both the Greater Tokyo and Kansai areas now have convenient direct access to the island. The new route will be serviced by an Airbus A320-200 with the departing flight (MM533) taking off Narita daily at 2:40PM and arriving Ishigaki at 6:40PM. The return flight (MM534) departs Ishigaki at 5:45PM, arriving Tokyo-Narita at 8:35PM.
Peach also announced on Thursday new daily service from Osaka-Kansai to Amami, a future world heritage site. Like the new Narita-Ishigaki route, Peach will be the only airline offering direct service from Osaka-Kansai to Amami. With the new service, Peach now serves 21 domestic and 19 international destinations. Thursday’s inaugural flight arrival celebration at Amami Islands’ Airport was attended by Satoshi Mitazono, Governor of Kagoshima Prefecture and other dignitaries. Arriving guests were welcomed with Amami Islands’ famous raw sugar bars and a pink flower lei with Peach Aviation’s logo. Speaking at the celebration, Peach Aviation’s Representative Director and CEO, Shinichi Inoue said,
“This is the only direct flight that connects Kansai with the Amami Islands, which hope to be inscribed as a Natural World Heritage site next summer. The Amami Islands and Kansai share a deep connection, with many people traveling between the two regions. I hope that you will use our Peach ‘flying trains’ to travel back to your hometowns, to visit relatives, and for many other purposes.”
The new service to Amami from Osaka-Kansai complements Peach Aviation’s current route from Tokyo-Narita to Amami which launched on October 1, 2019. The new daily flight (MM205) departs Osaka at 2:10PM and arrives in Amami at 4:05PM. The return flight (MM206) departs Amami at 4:45PM and arrives in Osaka-Kansai at 6:15PM.
Peach Aviation completed its merger with Narita-based Vanilla Air on November 11, 2019, making it Japan’s third largest airline and largest low-cost carrier (in terms of passengers carried). Founded in March 2012, Peach has a fleet of 30 aircraft and serves over 30M customers annually on 21 domestic and 19 international routes. Peach was awarded the title “LCC of the Year” by the Centre for Aviation (CAPA) in 2015.
Source: Peach Aviation