Virgin Australia will launch its long-awaited flights to Tokyo from Cairns, with daily Boeing 737-8 MAX services from 28 June 2023.

Before the pandemic, Virgin Australia had won a valuable slot for daily flights to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. It had planned to use this to launch daily Brisbane-Tokyo A330 flights in partnership with All Nippon Airways. But Australia’s international border closed in the weeks prior to the planned route launch and this never happened.

Virgin Australia no longer has any wide-body aircraft capable of flying Brisbane-Tokyo non-stop. But, as Australian Frequent Flyer reported recently, Virgin needs to utilise its Haneda Airport slot soon or lose it – which would likely mean Qantas picks it up by default.

That’s an outcome Qantas would no doubt like, as it originally put a lot of effort into trying to get that extra Haneda slot. But Haneda Airport slots are notoriously difficult to get, and Virgin likely has longer term aspirations to eventually launch direct flights from Brisbane or Sydney to Tokyo using a more suitable aircraft type.

Realistically, Cairns-Tokyo is the only viable route to Haneda that Virgin is able to launch with the aircraft it will have available by June 2023. Virgin expects to receive its first Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft, which has the range to fly this route from Cairns, in the first half of 2023.

Virgin’s new route will be supported by Cairns Airport and the Queensland government.

Also in June 2023, Qantas will launch a Sydney-Auckland-New York route using its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The stop in Auckland is similarly an interim measure until Qantas receives its first Airbus A350 aircraft capable of flying Sydney-New York non-stop.

Jetstar already flies using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners from Cairns to Tokyo’s Narita Airport. Narita is less convenient than Haneda Airport for people travelling to central Tokyo due to its location.

Schedule, pricing & award availability

Virgin Australia’s Cairns-Tokyo flights will operate daily, with the following schedule:

• VA77 Cairns 13:15 – Tokyo 20:00
• VA78 Tokyo 21:45 – Cairns 06:15 (+1 day)

The flight time is scheduled as 7 hours and 45 minutes outbound, and a bit less on the return leg from Tokyo back to Cairns.

Flights are currently on sale until 20 December 2022 from $699 return for an Economy Lite fare from Cairns to Tokyo, or $819 return for a Choice fare that includes checked baggage, seat selection, more Velocity status credits and greater flexibility. Sale fares from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to Tokyo via Cairns are also available from $749 return (for Economy Lite).

Note that Economy Class fares on this route will not include food. Complimentary water, coffee and tea will be available, as well as snacks for purchase from the Buy Onboard menu.

Business Class fares start from $1,970 return from Cairns to Tokyo. Business fares include complimentary meals and drinks on board, as well as an amenity kit, pillow and blanket.

Flights are not yet available for sale from Japan to Australia, but tickets will go on sale in that direction early next year.

Reward seats are available from 27,800 Velocity points one-way in Economy, or 59,500 points in Business Class, plus taxes.

Virgin Australia to partner with All Nippon Airways

When it previously announced the launch of Brisbane-Tokyo services, Virgin Australia had planned to also start a codeshare and frequent flyer partnership with Japan’s All Nippon Airways (ANA).

The good news is that this partnership is now back on. Velocity Frequent Flyer and ANA Mileage Club members will soon receive reciprocal frequent flyer benefits. The two airlines will also codeshare on each others’ flights.

Virgin Australia will certainly benefit from ANA’s distribution channels in Japan, with Cairns traditionally a popular destination for Japanese tourists. The codeshare partnership will also enable Virgin to offer onward connectivity from Haneda to other cities in Japan and northern Asia on VA flight numbers.

“As a strategic and significant partner to ANA, we are excited for Virgin Australia’s inaugural flight to Haneda that enhances our commercial partnership,” ANA EVP of Alliances & International Affairs Junichiro Miyagawa said.

“We are delighted to welcome passengers with the mutual goal of both airlines serving as the bridge between Australia and Japan with the highest levels of customer service and offering unique customer experiences in the two countries.”

Virgin Australia’s Boeing 737-8 MAX

Virgin Australia currently has 8 Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft on order, which are due to arrive in 2023. Cairns-Tokyo is the first route that Virgin has announced will be operated by this aircraft type.

There has been some speculation that Virgin’s new Boeing 737-8 aircraft could feature a larger Business Class cabin, or perhaps even lie-flat seating. This would be more appropriate if the aircraft is to be used in the longer term to operate medium-to-long haul flights such as Cairns-Tokyo.

Lie-flat Business Class seating would also be a great improvement on routes such as those from the Australian east coast to Bali or even Perth. Many of these flights operate overnight, when a lie-flat bed is highly valued by business travellers. And Business Class is often sold out weeks in advance on these routes as there are only 8 seats available.

At this stage, the seat map Virgin Australia has published for its Cairns-Tokyo route, to be operated by the Boeing 737 MAX, is identical to its Boeing 737-800 seat map. If this is accurate, it would imply that Virgin will just have 8 reclining Business seats on its 737 MAX fleet as well.

Based on the current Business Class pricing on this route, it does appear that the seats will not be lie-flat as the fares are comparable to the Premium Economy pricing on other airlines flying between Australia and Japan using aircraft designed for long-haul flying.

The lower pricing may also reflect the fact that no lounge access is likely to be available to Virgin Australia passengers in Cairns or Tokyo.

We asked Virgin Australia if it was planning to keep the same seating configuration of its current Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the Boeing 737-8 MAX. The airline did not respond by our deadline.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.