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Why did TK reduce their service to Japan?

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Old Dec 22, 2017, 4:09 am
  #1  
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Why did TK reduce their service to Japan?

3 years ago they had 2 flights daily to Tokyo & 1 to Osaka. Now there's only one to Tokyo with an A330 rather than a 777. I was on TK50 once & the flight was jam packed. Any particular reason for the growth slump?
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Old Dec 22, 2017, 9:49 am
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Since some European and Japanese airlines can now fly into Haneda, there is surely lower demand for Narita flights, especially for business travel. Trans-polar also makes direct flights relatively quicker - I can't really think of too many places in Europe where connecting in IST doesn't add a whole lot of extra time to the journey. (vs a Finnair connection say) And if you're going to take your time, you might as well fly on an ME3 airline...
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Old Dec 22, 2017, 10:52 am
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Originally Posted by craigthemif
Since some European and Japanese airlines can now fly into Haneda, there is surely lower demand for Narita flights, especially for business travel. Trans-polar also makes direct flights relatively quicker - I can't really think of too many places in Europe where connecting in IST doesn't add a whole lot of extra time to the journey. (vs a Finnair connection say) And if you're going to take your time, you might as well fly on an ME3 airline...
My wife flew BHX-NRT on TK earlier this year. 3-4 hours to IST and then about 12 hours to NRT, and that's not including the transit time between. Direct flights are 12 hours, so 4 hours plus transit longer. Finnair is about 9-10 hours HEL-NRT, so is certainly quicker to most of northern and western Europe. But Finnair and the direct carriers don't have the Flying Chef entertainment!
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Old Dec 22, 2017, 10:53 am
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Whether a flight was "jam packed" or not has nothing to do with whether it makes money. TK and any other airline compares cost of operating a route / frequency to the yield they can extract for it.

TK saw its yield decline sharply in 2015-2016 and cut capacity as a consequence.
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Old Dec 23, 2017, 4:12 am
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The service is actually increasing now, they will replace the A330 with 777 in May.
https://www.routesonline.com/news/38...as-of-10nov17/
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Old Dec 23, 2017, 4:21 am
  #6  
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Originally Posted by dozerman94
The service is actually increasing now, they will replace the A330 with 777 in May.
https://www.routesonline.com/news/38...as-of-10nov17/
Interesting, I much prefer the 777.
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Old Dec 24, 2017, 2:31 am
  #7  
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Thank you for the link as I was also eyeing Cape Town and I see that it's being down gauged to a - 200 which doesn't have lie flat seats.
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Old Dec 24, 2017, 11:29 pm
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Originally Posted by Wilko Pali Sedef
Thank you for the link as I was also eyeing Cape Town and I see that it's being down gauged to a - 200 which doesn't have lie flat seats.
Well, I'm E+ thanks to the 200. (but if it weren't for the 4x promo I would have sworn off TK permanently - awful seats!)
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Old Dec 25, 2017, 9:28 am
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Originally Posted by Wilko Pali Sedef
Thank you for the link as I was also eyeing Cape Town and I see that it's being down gauged to a - 200 which doesn't have lie flat seats.
I flew IST-CPT on a 333, earlier this year.
lie-flat seats identical to the 777
​​​​​333 on the return, same thing there.

checked planefinder for today and both JNB amd CPT are 333s

(edited and corrected, I previously posted wrong aircraft and tail numbers)

Last edited by gr8pirate; Dec 26, 2017 at 12:37 am
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