India to Japan just got easier: Air India’s new routes, airport shift explained

Air India on Monday announced expanding its codeshare partnership with All Nippon Airways (ANA), and also shifting its operations in Japan to Haneda airport, which is nearer to Tokyo city.

From March 31, the airline will operate its 4x weekly flights from Delhi to Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND), replacing the existing services to Narita International Airport (NRT).

Haneda airport is located 18 kilometres from downtown Tokyo and cuts travel time to Tokyo station from nearly one hour by road (70 kilometres from Narita) to around 30 minutes, according to a release.

Further, the carrier has expanded its codeshare partnership with ANA.

"Subject to due regulatory approvals, beginning 1 April 2025, Air India will place its 'AI' designator code on ANA's flights between Tokyo Haneda and 6 other cities in Japan: Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Okinawa, Osaka, and Sapporo. This will allow Air India guests to travel to any of these destinations on a single ticket, with their baggage checked through the entire journey," the release said.

Reciprocally, ANA will place its 'NH' designator code on Air India's flight between Delhi and Haneda, Delhi and Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Pune.

Both airlines entered a codeshare agreement in April last year.

Generally, a codeshare partnership allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carrier, and there will be a single ticket.