American Airlines on Wednesday announced it will be the first U.S. airline to launch service between the continental U.S. and Tokyo’s International Airport at Haneda since the U.S. and Japan signed a historic Open Skies Agreement in October 2010. Service to Haneda from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport will begin on Friday, February 18th.
Delta had previously announced that it would serve Haneda from Los Angeles and Detroit beginning Saturday, February 19th.
Haneda is located only 30 minutes from downtown Tokyo. With almost 70 million annual passengers, it is one of the busiest airports in Asia, and the fourth busiest airport in the world. It is also Japan’s main hub for domestic flights, providing a wide range of options for connections to and from cities throughout the country, but was previously unreachable by US carriers due to government restrictions.
American will be using a Boeing 777-200ER with 247 seats, 16 in first class, 37 in business, and 194 in economy. In addition to its new service to Haneda, American will continue to provide service to Tokyo’s Narita Airport from New York-JFK, Chicago, Los Angeles and Dallas/Fort Worth.
(With BNO News)