Starting this week, the people of Madrid will be able to enjoy a breakfast of chocolate with churros in San Ginés and a sushi dinner in a restaurant in the Ginza district. The Spanish airline Iberia returns to the Asian scene with a new connection: the resumption of its direct flights between Madrid and Tokyo from October 27, 2024.
From this date, travelers will be able to enjoy direct flights to Narita International Airport. The connection between the two capitals will be operated continuously throughout the year, with capacity for 348 people and three weekly flights on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from Madrid, and Mondays, Fridays and Sundays from Tokyo.
- IB281 Madrid-Tokyo: every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, departing at 11:55 a.m. and arriving at 10:15 a.m. the following day.
- IB282 Tokyo-Madrid: Mondays, Fridays and Sundays, departing at 11:55 am and arriving at 7:45 pm.
This news is especially significant, as it recalls Iberia’s first Tokyo trip in 1986. At that time, the route included two stops in Barcelona and Mumbai. However, from 1992 onwards, with the addition of the Airbus A340s and the upgraded version of the Boeing B747, Iberia was able to offer direct flights until 1998. In 2016, the airline reconnected these two capitals, keeping the route active until 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic caused the temporary interruption of international travel.
Gateway to the Orient
In its strategic pivot to the Asian continent, Iberia has not only returned to Tokyo, but also inaugurated direct flights to Doha from Madrid last year. María Jesús López Solás, Iberia’s Commercial and Network Development and Alliances Director, said at the time that this new route “is proof of our great commitment to Asia. The economic growth of the countries of this continent is immense, as all forecasts for the coming decades indicate. From Iberia, we want to show the potential that Madrid has as a gateway to Spain, the rest of Europe and Latin America to connect both parts of the world”.