Hawaiian Hopes to Launch 3 More Flights to Tokyo Haneda
United Airlines and then American shared their plans for Tokyo's convenient Haneda Airport (HND) earlier Thursday, and now it's Hawaiian's turn — the Honolulu-based carrier hopes to introduce three more daily flights of its own.
With United's six proposed routes and American's four, Hawaiian now brings that total up to 13 — of 12 available slots. And Delta hasn't formally submitted its own bid, with the deadline yet to come. Someone won't be going home happy.
Assuming Hawaiian wins the Department of Transportation's approval, the carrier plans to add the following daily flights:
Hawaiian makes a strong case for adding three more daily flights:
"In 2010 when Hawaiian entered the U.S.-Japan market and became the first U.S. carrier to launch Haneda service, international revenue was approximately 10% of Hawaiian's passenger revenue. Hawaiian has since expanded by introducing nonstop service from Honolulu to Sapporo (CTS), Osaka (KIX) and Tokyo/Narita (NRT)."
Additional HND flights and a partnership with Japan Airlines would enable Hawaiian to serve a total of 27 additional domestic airports.
Of course, with just 12 slots to award, some of these proposed flights won't be approved. Three additional frequencies will bring Hawaiian's total to five — a hefty number for the already saturated Honolulu-Tokyo market.
With final approval still months away, it'll be quite some time before we know which flights will indeed come to market. All new service is expected to launch just before Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympics, in the middle of 2020.