American's Planning Las Vegas-Tokyo Shocker, 3 Other Haneda Flights
Update 2/21/19: AA has confirmed that its two DFW flights would be operated by the 777-200, while the airline would use its 787-8 Dreamliner for the LAX and LAS flights.
United was first out of the gate with its proposed Tokyo Haneda (HND) routes on Thursday, but American Airlines confirmed its own suggested routes just minutes later with TPG, including one we weren't expecting at all: nonstop service between Tokyo and Las Vegas.
While AA's still finalizing the details of today's news, the airline's already made some waves with its proposal for the 12 Haneda slots available to US carriers. So far, United's aiming to get half — with a total of six new HND flights — and American's hoping to take on four itself. The US Department of Transportation will consider city pairs based on airline requests, and American's prioritizing its proposal with daily flights as follows:
- Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
- Los Angeles (LAX)
- Dallas/Fort Worth (yes, a second daily flight)
- Las Vegas (LAS)
With LAS bringing up the rear, and AA requesting one-third of the available slots, it's quite possible we'll never see a Tokyo-Las Vegas nonstop come to fruition. Still, it's an interesting proposal indeed.
According to American, there's heavy Las Vegas demand among Japanese tourists, including those living beyond Tokyo. That makes Haneda an especially compelling option, given all the domestic markets AA's partner JAL serves from it:
As with United, American plans to launch its Haneda flights by the summer of 2020, ahead of the Olympic Games in Tokyo. We're still awaiting the full scoop, including the aircraft AA plans to use for each flight, and we'll update this post as more details become available.