Mumbai, March 16 (IANS) Air India will operate a daily jumbo flight with a capacity of 423 passengers between New Delhi and Tokyo March 16-19, an official said here Wednesday.

The first flight will leave Delhi at 11 p.m. Wednesday and reach Tokyo's Narita Airport Thursday 9:50 a.m.(local time), and the return flight will start from there at 11:30 a.m. to reach Delhi at 6 p.m. (local time).

Air India will operate a Jumbo Boeing B747-400 aircraft instead of the regular B777-300ER.

So far, the airline has brought back around 900 passengers from Japan since it was hit by an earthquake and a devastating tsunami March 11.

Besides the flight to Tokyo, Air India operates three flights a week to Osaka which will continue as per schedule.

In view of the natural disaster which struck the country, the airline has also decided to waive off all penalties for re-booking, cancellations and refunds on all types of tickets for travel to and from Japan up to March 31.