Hawaiian Airlines on Monday announced a new daily nonstop service between Honolulu International Airport and Narita International Airport in Tokyo, which is expected to land Hawaii with an additional $130 million in visitor spending.
The new service will take off on July 22 next year.
“Japan is Hawaii’s largest international market with arrivals from the market making up 18 percent of total arrivals to the state in 2014,” George Szigeti, president and CEO of the Hawaii Tourism Authority, said in a statement. “Hawaiian Airlines’ daily flight from Narita to Honolulu is projected to contribute an annual $130 million in visitor spending and $14.7 million in state tax revenue.
“With the recent announcement that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is looking to expand pre-clearance operations at Narita, this flight will provide additional service from one of our core markets.”
This is Hawaiian Airline Inc’s (Nasdaq: HA) 11th international destination and its fourth to Japan. The airline already operates daily flights to Tokyo Haneda Airport, Osaka Airport and Sapporo Airport.
“We’ve had the pleasure of carrying more than 800,000 visitors between Haneda and Honolulu since the launch of our daily A330 service more than five years ago,” said Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and chief executive officer. “With average load factors routinely exceeding 90 percent, it is clear Japanese travelers have chosen Hawaiian as their carrier of choice when visiting our beautiful islands.”
There are currently only four routes between the U.S. and Haneda. Delta Air Lines Inc. has been in a dispute with American Airlines Group Inc. about the rights to fly to the airport. Delta gave up one of those routes to American in June after a fight between the two airlines. However, it has since argued that its rival should cede the route after it didn’t start service within 60 days. The U.S. Department of Transportation has given American until March 27 to begin the flights to Haneda airport.
Hawaiian’s new Tokyo flight will take off from Honolulu at 3:30 p.m. and land in Narita at 7 p.m. the following day. The return fight will leave Narita at 9 p.m. and arrive at Honolulu at 9:55 a.m. the same day, after crossing the international dateline.
Pacific Business News
Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines launches Honolulu-Narita flight
