British Airways marks 75 years of air service to Japan, but market remains slow

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first passenger air service between the UK and Japan, first operated by BOAC, one of British Airways' predecessor airlines.

The very first flight connecting the UK with Japan was an extension to Iwakuni (city at the southern end of Japan’s Honshu island) of BOAC's Plymouth class flying boat service to Hong Kong on 19-Mar-1948. In Nov-1948 the service was further extended to Yokohama, Tokyo.

Today, British Airways is the number two operator by seats on UK-Japan, behind its JV partner Japan Airlines and ahead of All Nippon Airways.

UK-Japan's capacity recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has been the fastest among the top four Western Europe-Japan markets.

Nevertheless, the market between Western Europe and Japan had been sluggish for many years before the COVID pandemic, and remains far below its 2019 levels.