All Nippon Airways 737-800 Sapporo to Kobe

[1930_Granada]

Keeping it coming with another often-overlooked area of flying: Japanese domestic routes. These see traffic from Dash 8s all the way up to A350s and 777s from domestic hubs such as Tokyo-Haneda, Osaka-Itami, Nagoya-Centrair, and Sapporo-Chitose. This last airport is the largest on the island of Hokkaidō, the northernmost and lesst-populated of the main Japanese islands. One of the routes from Sapporo is to the port city of Kobe, in the Kansai Region.

Server: Solo
Airline: All Nippon Airways
Aircraft: Boeing 737-800
Origin: New Chitose Airport, Chitose, Japan (CTS)
Destination: Kobe Airport, Chuo-ku, Japan (UKB)
Flight Number: NH578
Route: RJCC-RJBE
Seat: 21A (Economy)
Time En Route: 1 Hour 46 Minutes

Getting boarded as the sun sets in Sapporo

Beginning our taxi to 1L for takeoff

Dusk departure from Chitose

We’ve reached our cruising altitude of 34,000 feet over the Tsugaru Strait, separating Hokkaidō from Honshu

Headed down the western coast of Honshu

Descending into the Kansai Region

Landing in Kobe less than 2 hours after takeoff. UKB is a surprisingly small airport for how large Kobe is, with most traffic going to either Itami or Kansai.

Pulling into the very small passenger terminal. Kobe Airport, built on an artificial island like its neighbor Osaka-Kansai, was a political football that took decades to build, finally opening in 1995, shortly before KIX did.

Looking at the jet from the terminal

[nabilk11_777flyer]

Nice pics I love all of em

[canton]

Nice pictures! Japanese domestic flying really is underrated

[QFA_12]

Just imagine we could have had the trio ANA, JAL and AirDo on the B767 for domestic flights around Japan but…

[1930_Granada]

Thanks so much!

[1930_Granada]

Fingers crossed we get them all someday in a proper rework

[ShinanoSky_YT]

Exactly! This is why I really wanted the 767 to win..
The three are among the largest 767 operators at the moment and without them, it’s practically impossible to fly domestic routes in Japan.

We mainly have to resort on flying the generic 767 and to be honest, it’s hard to use them without their livery.

[1930_Granada]

I think we have the JAL 767-300ER, but I don’t think the winglet-equipped ones are used in Japan. Fuel savings on such short routes aren’t worth it.

[ShinanoSky_YT]

@1930_Granada

I think we have the JAL 767-300ER

If you’re talking about the livery in-game, no it does not exist.

@1930_Granada

I don’t think the winglet-equipped ones are used in Japan.

Actually, they are being used for domestic routes! For example, JA625A, a winglet equipped ANA 767 is currently flying from Kobe to Haneda as I am writing this!
If I’m correct, I think I saw one of JAL’s 767 (with winglets) flying a domestic route on FR24.

[1930_Granada]

My mistake. I thougt we had it at one point. That’s the Mandela Effect for you.

Edit: I’ve mostly seen the winglet-equipped JL 767s deployed to Southeast Asia and Hawaii, so I assumed they weren’t really domestic airframes, sort of how Delta’s non-ER 767-300s used to be primarily transcontinental and Hawaiian workhorses.