All Things Travel: Japan Airlines To Boston Coming Soon
BOSTON (CBS) - The Massachusetts Port Authority is launching its biggest marketing effort ever to support the launch of new non-stop service from Boston to Tokyo on April 22.
The 13-hour Japan Airlines flight will be the longest from Logan Airport. Service will be on the new Boeing 787 aircraft that will be able to carry a total of 186 passengers.
There will be 42 business class seats and 142 in coach.
It will be the first route flown by the Dreamliner on the East Coast.
Boeing is expected to announce this week that it will bring one of the new Dreamliners to Logan on March 4th for an invitation-only preview of the aircraft on that Sunday afternoon.
JAL's Oneworld partner in the new service is American Airlines in a revenue sharing arrangement. AA will feed traffic into Logan Airport from as far away as Miami.
"Without the help of American, we wouldn't be here," said Steve Smith, Vice President Global Sales for the Americas for Japan Airlines in an interview in Boston last week.
JAL is also set to announce a marketing interline agreement with JetBlue that will feed passenger traffic into Boston for the Tokyo flight.
A delegation of Massachusetts officials are in Japan this week for a series of meetings to discuss ways of bringing more tourists to Boston.
This trip was arranged by The Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism.
Repeated requests for the names of the people making the trip and their itineraries was not released by MOTT.
Massport is hosting several events with JAL leading up to the launch and will begin a print and broadcast advertising campaign in the next few weeks.
At The Boston Globe Travel Show that ended yesterday, the Japan and Massport aviation booths were side-by-side.
The Dreamliner is a completely re-designed aircraft which is about 20-percent more efficient to operate. It has larger windows, a new air circulation system, and overhead bins that are three times larger than other jets currently in use.
JAL will arrive and depart from Terminal E at Logan Airport. Business Class passengers will be able to use their Oneworld partner's lounge of British Airways in the international terminal.
Statistics indicate that 400,000 people fly from New England to Asia annually. JAL will have connections to major cities throughout that region.
As one Massport marketing person said to me about their current activities, "It's all Japan Airlines, all the time."
Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
