With the boom in travel to travel showing no signs of abating, Qantas has announced it will launch seasonal flights between Sydney and Sapporo’s New Chitose Airport in Hokkaido in Northern Japan.
Running from 15 December 2025 to 28 March 2026, the new service will run three times per week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Qantas will utilise its A330-200 aircraft for the service, featuring 27 business class suites and 228 economy seats.
In total, the flying kangaroo will provide more than 20,000 seats on the route during Japan’s ski season, a big drawcard for Aussie holidaymakers.
The flights will be the only nonstop link between Australia and Hokkaido and also marks Qantas’ 100th destination.
According to the carrier, the new flights will save passengers several hours of travel compared to the current options, with daytime flights enabling Aussies to travel from NSW to popular snow resorts like Niseko and Furano on the same day.
With return flights departing in the evening, travellers will also have the chance to hit the slopes on the morning of departure.
The new service will also allow Aussies to attend the Sapporo Snow Festival and visit famous onsen (hot spring) towns like Noboribetsu and Jozankei.
On sale now, the new flights mark Qantas’ fourth route to Japan, with subsidiary Jetstar also operating five routes to the Asian nation for a total of more than 1.5 million seats between Australia and Japan annually.
Qantas also flies from Sydney to Tokyo Haneda, Melbourne to Tokyo Narita and Brisbane to Tokyo Narita. In September, Qantas announced it would replace its current Melbourne and Brisbane flights to Narita with services to Haneda by early 2025.
“We know Sapporo is an extremely popular winter destination for Aussies who love the snow and we’re excited to make it even easier for them to reach Hokkaido’s world-class ski resorts with a direct fight from Sydney,” Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said.
“These new flights will save passengers hours of travel time compared to connecting in Tokyo or other cities and give them more time to enjoy on the slopes.
“Australians’ love affair with Japan is stronger-than-ever so it is fitting that Sapporo will also mark the 100th destination in the Qantas network, following the great new destinations we added last year like Paris, Palau and Port Vila.
“We last flew to Sapporo in early-2020 and had extremely positive feedback from customers, so we’re looking forward to operating this route again.”
With travel from Australia to Japan already more popular than ever, tourism to the Asian nation is expected to swell even higher in 2025. Read why Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) Sydney Office Executive Director Naoki Kitazawa says Australian visitors are “the most important customers for Japan”.
While the new service should be a hit with snow-bound Aussies, the flights could also boost Aussie tourism, with the lure of a summer vacation in Australia a tantalising prospect for holidaymakers looking to escape the cold in Japan.
