British Airways customers are set to soak up Osaka next summer as the airline is launching direct flights to Japan’s second largest city from March 31, 2019.

The four weekly service departing from Heathrow Terminal 5 and landing into Osaka’s Kansai International Airport, will be operated by a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

Special return fares from £599 in World Traveller, £999 in World Traveller Plus and £2499 in Club World are bookable until October 9, for travel between May 7 and September 9, 2019.

The new route takes the number of daily flights between London and Japan offered as part of British Airways’ joint business with Japan Airlines up to 32 per week.

Japan Airlines will also codeshare on the new service, further strengthening the JV and giving customers more opportunities to earn and redeem Avios loyalty points across the network.

BA is also adding 4 cities to its joint agreement with Japan Airlines, with the BA code being put on flights between Tokyo Haneda and Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Komatsu and Matsuyama.

Japanese tourism is set to grow from 24 million annual visitors in 2016 to 40 million in 2020. Osaka was recently named the third most liveable city in the world and is considered to be the food capital of Japan.

British Airways will launch 17 new routes across the globe this year including direct flights to Durban, South Africa starting next month.