Japanese Government 777-300ER tail 80-1112 flies 11-mile loop at Sapporo

Japanese Government / Imperial Flight's Boeing 777-300ER, tail 80-1112, flew from New Chitose Airport in Sapporo back to the same airport on Friday, November 13, 2026. The aircraft departed at 01:24 UTC and landed at 01:45 UTC, spending 21 minutes in the air. The flight covered a great-circle distance of 11 nautical miles, or 13 miles.

The 777-300ER flew at an average ground speed of 32 knots and reached a top speed of 255 knots. The jet climbed to a highest altitude of 3,975 feet. Celebplanes estimates the aircraft burned about 352 US gallons of fuel, producing roughly 3,378 kilograms of CO2, about the same as driving a car 8,362 miles. The 777-300ER is a long-range wide-body jet built to carry about 150 passengers and fly intercontinental routes.

Before this flight, Japanese Government / Imperial Flight's two aircraft had landed at Sapporo 37 times in the tracked window from September 23 to November 6, 2026. The last landing at Sapporo before this flight was on November 6, 2026, by the other 777-300ER, tail 80-1111. The home base for the fleet is Tokyo Haneda International Airport, which is 443 nautical miles from New Chitose. Usual destinations include Beijing, Seoul, New Delhi, Los Angeles, New York, and Paris. In the 30 days before this flight, the two aircraft visited 6 airports in one country and flew about 2,454 nautical miles. The longest leg in that period was a 592 nautical mile flight from Sapporo to Osaka on October 21, 2026, flown by the same aircraft, tail 80-1112.

Japan's Air Self-Defense Force operates the two 777-300ERs as primary transport for the Prime Minister and the Imperial Family, always deploying them together for heads-of-state missions. The aircraft are based at Chitose Air Base in Hokkaido and frequently stage through Tokyo Haneda. Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako use the same aircraft for state visits. Japan is a top-20 economy and G7 member, so the aircraft appear at virtually every major multilateral summit. No scheduled public appearance or event for Japanese Government / Imperial Flight near Sapporo was found in the available web sources.

The short 11-mile loop from New Chitose back to New Chitose is a routine local movement, possibly a training flight or a repositioning within the airfield. The aircraft had been on the ground at Sapporo for about 9 days before this flight, following a previous tracked landing on November 4, 2026, by the same aircraft.

New Chitose Airport's longest runway is 9,843 feet, and the field elevation is 82 feet. The aircraft's estimated fuel burn is 1,000 US gallons per hour.

In the tracked window from September 23 to November 6, 2026, the owner's two aircraft made 40 flights. The most common destination was Sapporo, with 37 landings, followed by Tokyo, with 2 landings.

On November 6, 2026, the other 777-300ER, tail 80-1111, flew two short loops from Sapporo to Sapporo: one of 57 minutes covering 16 nautical miles, and another of 2 hours 58 minutes. On November 1, 2026, the same aircraft flew a 16-minute, 30-nautical-mile loop from Sapporo to Sapporo.