Four Japanese and South Korean airlines will begin charter flights Sunday between Tokyo's Haneda airport and Seoul's Kimpo airport, taking advantage of the proximity of both airports to the center of each city.
Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines expect to fly one round-trip flight a day between Haneda and Kimpo. Both airports presently mainly operate domestic flights.
The start of the new service is the result of an agreement in June between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun to establish direct flights between the two airports.
In an attempt to increase exchanges between Tokyo and Seoul, the Japanese government said last month that the main attraction of the charter flights is reduced travel time between the two capitals.
Conventional flights between the two countries' main international gateways -- Narita and Inchon airports -- are currently popular, but the airports are more than an hour from each city center, although the flight itself takes only 2 1/2 hours.
But the travel time from Haneda and Kimpo airports to their respective city centers is a mere 40 minutes.
According to ANA, nearly 70 percent of the seats have already been reserved for its flights in the week from Sunday.
Although that figure is lower than for its conventional Narita-Inchon flights in the same period, ANA President Yoji Ohashi expects more to come "just before the deadline, as people do when reserving domestic flights."