Iberia relaunched its nonstop service between Madrid-Barajas (MAD) and Tokyo-Narita (NRT) on October 27, 2024, after a four-year hiatus.
The Spanish flag carrier has already operated this route in the past, but it discontinued its Tokyo services in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This new air link is currently the only scheduled nonstop service between Spain and Japan and the longest route in Iberia’s network. Estimated flight time is 14 hours for the Japan-bound leg and 16 hours on the way back to Europe (because of the need to avoid Russian airspace).
Aircraft operating this service always fly in an eastward direction, thus completing a whole circumnavigation of the globe on each rotation.
Tokyo becomes also the only destination in East Asia served by the Spanish carrier, which has traditionally focused on the Transatlantic market, particularly on routes linking Spain to Latin America.
The Tokyo service will be operated three times per week using Airbus A350-900 aircraft with a three-class layout, featuring 31 business, 28 premium economy and 293 economy class seats.
Iberia has also tweaked its inflight service proposition to cater for the Japanese market.
The Spanish airline is making sure that each of these flights has at least three Japanese crew members onboard and has added Japanese language options in its inflight menus and digital communications. Iberia has also included a selection of Japanese content on its inflight entertainment system (IFE), as well as adapting the onboard catering offering to suit Japanese tastes.