ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 A warm welcome was extended to dozens of passengers arriving at Orlando International Airport on Monday, marking the first direct flight from Japan to Florida. <\/p>\n
The ZIPAIR flight from Tokyo was greeted with a water cannon salute on the tarmac as it touched down, celebrating this exciting new connection. The historic trip is one of four round-trip flights scheduled between Orlando and Tokyo operated by ZIPAIR. <\/p>\n
This marks the first time a commercial airline has provided a direct connection between Japan and the state of Florida<\/p>\n
One of the pilots on the flight, Kohtake, has a personal connection to Central Florida. He graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach 20 years ago and had not been back to the state since then.<\/p>\n
\u201cI went to school in Florida,\u201d Kohtake said. \u201cIt\u2019s been 20 years since I graduated and it\u2019s been 20 years since I\u2019ve been in Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n
Passengers on the historic flight said they were pleased with the experience. <\/p>\n
They described the trip as incredible and noted they had nothing to complain about following the long-distance journey.<\/p>\n
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