In future, air traffic between the European Union and Japan will be simplified for airlines. The Swedish Presidency signed an agreement with the Japanese government. This should grant providers non-discriminatory access to routes between the EU and Japan and thus promote open and fair competition.

Both Japanese airlines and airlines based in the European Union should be able to expand their services more easily as a result of the new agreement. It also supplements the aviation security agreement, which came into force in 2021. In general, the EU and Japan want to further expand their cooperation in aviation.

“Today we set another milestone in the EU's foreign aviation policy. This agreement will allow all EU airlines to benefit from freedom of establishment when providing air services to Japan, bringing existing bilateral agreements of our Member States into line with Union law. This will further enhance EU cooperation with one of our key partners in the region,” said Andreas Carlson, Swedish Minister for Infrastructure and Housing.

It is not yet possible to foresee what advantages consumers will have as a result of the new agreement. The background is that both Japanese providers and airlines based in the European Union cannot use Russian airspace. Therefore, sometimes enormously long detours have to be flown. This drives up production costs, making it difficult for some airlines to fly profitably, as there are often cheaper alternatives that require no more than one transfer.

Therefore, it is unlikely that the conclusion of the new agreement between the EU and Japan will result in numerous new non-stop connections being launched in the short term. At a later point in time, especially when the flight routes could possibly be shortened again, this is quite conceivable.