Japan's ANA to debut flights to Milan, Stockholm and Istanbul

All Nippon Airways will launch three new routes between Tokyo and European cities in fiscal 2024 and resume or expand service on existing routes, tapping into renewed post-pandemic demand for travel to Japan. The Japanese carrier begins flights between Haneda Airport and Milan, Stockholm and Istanbul in the latter half of the fiscal year. The airline had intended to start serving the three cities before its plans were scuttled by the pandemic. ANA also resumes service between Haneda and Vienna in August after a hiatus of over four years, with three round-trip flights weekly. Combined with the new cities, this lifts the carrier's European routes to nine, from five now. It will add more flights to Munich and Paris as well in July, operating seven per week each. The airline just this month announced a codeshare agreement with ITA Airways, Italy's state-owned flag carrier. This expansion in Europe comes amid a sharp rebound in inbound tourism to Japan since the pandemic ended, even as the need to avoid Russian airspace after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has made flights to the continent longer and more expensive. The number of visitors to Japan was up 8% in December 2023 compared with the pre-COVID figure in December 2019, setting a record for the month, the Japan National Tourism Organization reports. Arrivals from North America, Australia, the Middle East and Asia all rose over that period. Visitors from Europe were still down around 10% to 20%, but are expected to pick up going forward.<br/>