Iberia has flown its new direct service from Madrid to Tokyo inaugurating its first ever non-stop connection between Spain and Japan.
The new route is operated by the Airbus A350-900, the airline’s most modern long-haul aircraft whose spacious cabin has been configured to carry 352 passengers including 31 in Business class, 28 in Premium Economy class and 293 in Economy class. The flights depart Madrid Barajas International airport three days each week as Iberia Flight 281 before returning from Tokyo Narita International Airport under the Iberia Flight 282 designation. Once in Tokyo the aircraft is expected to execute a very quick three hours turn-around, just enough time for cabin cleaning, aircraft ground servicing, offloading and loading of various items, including passengers and cargo, and refuelling etc.
Opening this new route, the airline’s flight operations department was confronted with the closure of Russian airspace that has been in effect since 2022. In compliance, the airline decided that although a normal eastwards flightpath barely avoiding Russian airspace through Turkey could be allowed on the way out towards Tokyo, the return flight needed a different trajectory. In facts given the less favorable winds normally affecting the Tokyo – Madrid return leg, the A350-900 could instead come around the globe through the northerly North Pole route. With its 13 597 km traveling distance, the return flight is only 963 km longer than the departing flight’s 12 644 km distance. The airline probably expected that favorable winds could negate the extra distance.
Reviewing Flight 281 logs, pushing east out of Madrid after departure, the A350-900 crossed southern Europe entering Turkish airspace clear from the Russian border, yet very close at times then overflying the black sea. Further east, after Kazakhstan, the flight crossed the China-Mongolia border before entering Japanese airspace from the west and descending onto Tokyo. The aircraft which had departed Madrid at 12:37 pm on sunday landed at Tokyo Narita International Airport the next morning at 10:24 am following a 13 hours and 47 minutes flight. The A390-900 had covered the 12.644 km traveling distance cruising at 770 km/h in speed and spending considerable time at 12 497 m altitude where fuel economy is optimal.
Then the 13 597 km-long return flight from Tokyo crossing the north Pacific ocean through Alaska and Greenland, almost reaching the North Pole, was on its way. After bearing south across the North Atlantic passing Great Britain, the aircraft was headed towards Spain. The return circuit did require 14h54 minutes while cruising at a speed of 696 km/h.
In all, beating the airline’s own prognostics, the inaugural flight did much better than expected as the departing leg was done under the 14 hours flight time advertised by the airline and the return flight stood below the 16 hours announced. Even more, the return flight had only lagged the departing flight by one hour instead of two.
For Iberia whose long haul fleet comprises 22 A350-900 averaging a little more than four years of age, the new aircraft has offered the new direct flight opportunities that could not even be envisioned by its older Airbus A330-200s and A330-300s.