All Nippon Airways has filed schedule changes for its Tokyo HanedaβMilan Malpensa route that point to a significant increase in frequency during the Northern winter 2026/27 season.
Based on the latest update, the Star Alliance carrier intends to increase service from three weekly flights to seven weekly β daily β from 20 February 2027 at the earliest. At the time of writing, ANA continues to show three weekly flights available for reservation for the period from 20 February to 27 March 2027, and further changes remain highly possible.
The route is served by the Boeing 787-9. The filed timings are:
- NH207 β Haneda 22:45 β Milan Malpensa 05:55+1
- NH208 β Milan Malpensa 10:20 β Haneda 07:20+1
Why the increase matters
Schedule filings of this kind are provisional. Airlines routinely load, adjust and reload long-haul frequencies months ahead of departure as they refine capacity plans, and an increase filed for late February may still be revised before it goes on sale. What the filing does show is intent: ANA is planning for enough demand on the Milan route to justify moving from a three-weekly operation to a daily one.
Daily service changes the character of a long-haul route. A three-weekly schedule works for leisure traffic that plans around fixed departure days, but it is awkward for business travellers and it limits the value of the route as a connecting bank. Going daily lets both ends of the route feed connecting traffic every day β over Haneda into ANA's Japanese domestic and intra-Asian network, and over Milan into Star Alliance partner services in Europe.
Tokyo-Milan and the northern route question
JapanβEurope flying has been reshaped in recent years by the closure of Russian airspace to Japanese and most European carriers, which lengthened westbound sectors considerably and pushed up block times and fuel burn. Routes that used to be flown over Siberia are now flown south of Russia, adding hours in each direction. That has made aircraft efficiency more important than ever on these sectors, and it is one reason the 787-9 is a natural fit: it offers long range with a relatively modest seat count, which suits a market that is valuable but not enormous.
Milan is Italy's financial and industrial centre, and the Japanβnorthern Italy corridor carries a mix of corporate traffic, luxury goods business and high-yield leisure demand. Malpensa also serves as a useful European point for connecting traffic, particularly as several carriers have expanded there in recent seasons.
ANA operates Haneda as its primary international gateway in Tokyo, which offers a shorter surface journey into the city than Narita and a strong domestic connecting bank. For a route aimed partly at business travel, that positioning matters.
Travellers planning around the increase should treat the February 2027 date as provisional until the additional frequencies are loaded for sale.
Sources: AeroRoutes. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Daniel Okafor.
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