ANA and JAL airplanes at Osaka's Itami Airport
This page is about domestic air travel in Japan. Please check also our pages about discount air tickets and international air travel to Japan.
Airlines
Domestic air travel is dominated by the JAL Group and the ANA Group, which each consist of several airlines and serve over fifty airports across the country. In addition, there are several smaller airline companies competing with JAL and ANA on the country's most popular routes.
JAL Group (Japan Airlines)
The JAL Group consists of JAL Domestic and JAL International, as well as of several smaller airlines including Japan Transocean Air, Hokkaido Air System, Ryukyu Air Commuter and others. The JAL Group serves over 60 airports in Japan and operates approximately 650 domestic flights each day.
ANA Group (All Nippon Airways)
The ANA Group consists of All Nippon Airways, as well as several smaller airlines such as Air Nippon. The ANA Group serves over 50 airports in Japan and operates approximately 850 domestic flights each day.
Skymark Airlines
Skymark Airlines operates inexpensive flights from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Fukuoka, Kobe, Okinawa's Naha Airport, Asahikawa and Sapporo, and between Fukuoka and Okinawa, as well as flights from Kobe to Okianwa, Fukuoka, Sapporo (from July 2010), Kagoshima (from September 2010), Kumamoto (from October 2010) and Nagasaki (from December 2010).
Air Do
Air Do, also known as Hokkaido International Airlines, operates inexpensive flights from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to various destinations in Hokkaido, including Sapporo, Asahikawa, Hakodate and Memanbetsu. It also operates flights from Sapporo to Sendai, Niigata, Fukushima, Toyama and Komatsu.
Skynet Asia Airways
Skynet Asia Airways operates inexpensive flights from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to various destinations in Kyushu, including Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Nagasaki and Kagoshima. It also operates flights from Okinawa's Naha Airport to Kagoshima, Nagasaki, Miyazaki and Kumamoto.
Starflyer
Starflyer started operation in March 2006 and offers inexpensive flights between Tokyo's Haneda Airport and New Kitakyushu Airport. In autumn 2007, they started operating flights between Haneda and Osaka's Kansai Airport.
IBEX Airlines
IBEX Airlines, formerly known as Fair Inc, operates flights from Osaka's Itami Airport to Sendai andf Akita.
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Airports
Tokyo's Haneda Airport is by far Japan's busiest airport, handling most of the capital's domestic flights. Tokyo's Narita Airport handles mostly international flights and only a very small number of domestic flights.
Osaka's Kansai Airport serves both, international and domestic flights. It took over a large share of traffic (mainly international) formerly handled by Osaka's second airport, Itami Airport. Nevertheless, Itami Airport remains Japan's second busiest hub for domestic air traffic.
Other major airports in Japan include Nagoya's Central Japan Airport, Fukuoka Airport, Sapporo's Shin-Chirose Airport, Kobe Airport and Okinawa's Naha Airport. See a few more important airports on the map below:
Airfare
Thanks to the deregulation of Japan's airline industry and increasing competition from discount airlines, domestic airfares have dropped dramatically in recent years, and airplanes have become an economical, sometimes cheaper alternative to the shinkansen (bullet train) on some routes.
While regular fares remain expensive, it is the many discount offers, which have made domestic air travel in Japan more attractive. A special offer, only available to foreign tourists, are the so called Japan Air Passes, which let you use any domestic flight for a low fixed cost of about 12,000 Yen.
Please visit the Discount Air Ticket page for more details.
Typical one way fares for selected routes are shown in the table below:
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Route
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Airline
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Approx. Regular
One Way Fare
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Typical Discounted
One Way Fare
|
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Tokyo - Sapporo
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JAL/ANA
Air Do
Skymark
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30,000 Yen
25,000 Yen
19,000 Yen
|
12,000 - 21,000 Yen
10,000 - 18,000 Yen
10,000 - 18,000 Yen
|
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Tokyo - Fukuoka
|
JAL/ANA
Skymark
|
33,000 Yen
20,000 Yen
|
13,000 - 22,000 Yen
10,000 - 19,000 Yen
|
|
Tokyo - Osaka/Kobe
|
JAL/ANA
Skymark
|
20,000 Yen
10,000 Yen
|
10,000 - 12,000 Yen
5,000 - 7,000 Yen
|
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Tokyo - Okinawa
|
JAL/ANA
Skymark
|
37,000 Yen
24,000 Yen
|
13,000 - 32,000 Yen
10,000 - 20,000 Yen
|
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Osaka - Sapporo
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JAL/ANA
|
37,000 Yen
|
13,000 - 33,000 Yen
|
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Osaka - Fukuoka
|
JAL/ANA
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20,000 Yen
|
11,000 - 15,000 Yen
|
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Osaka - Okinawa
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JAL/ANA
|
30,000 Yen
|
11,000 - 27,000 Yen
|
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Nagoya - Sapporo
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JAL/ANA
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33,000 Yen
|
14,000 - 30,000 Yen
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Nagoya - Fukuoka
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JAL/ANA
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23,000 Yen
|
11,000 - 15,000 Yen
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Nagoya - Okinawa
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JAL/ANA
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35,000 Yen
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14,000 - 30,000 Yen
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