The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has recently approved American Airlines’ application of operating nonstop flights between New York’s JFK Airport and Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport (HND). The airline is not only the first, but so far only US carrier offering this connection.
“American looks forward to launching flights between JFK and HND this summer”, said Brian Znotins, American’s Senior Vice President of Network and Schedule Planning. “This new service will complement flights offered by our joint business partner, Japan Airlines, giving more ways for our customers travel between the US and Japan.”
Tickets for the new route become available on 26 February, with the first flights scheduled for 28 June. American will be offering daily return flights, complementing the existing offer from their business partner, Japan Airlines. So, this summer, customers traveling between New York and Tokyo will have up to three daily flights to choose from, operating at different times throughout the day, for passengers to select the most convenient itinerary for their schedule.
Every day, a Boeing 777-200 will be departing New York’s JFK airport at 11:25 am, local time, and reach Tokyo’s HND at 2:30 pm, local time, which would be the next day. For the return, American’s flight will depart at 4:30 pm from Tokyo and arrive in New York at 4:35 pm. Despite apparently taking only 5 minutes, the flight lasts for about 12 hours.
Japan Airlines currently has daily departures from JFK at 1:20 pm and 1:30 am, with the inbound flights departing Tokyo at 11:05 am and 6:30 pm. Moreover, through American’s and Japan’s partnership, the American’s new daily flight will offer roundtrip connections to more than 30 cities across Japan and East Asia, operated by Japan Airlines after connecting in Tokyo, including major cities such as Osaka, Sapporo and Fukuoka.
The new JFK–HND service will be American’s fourth daily nonstop flight to Tokyo, joining existing daily service from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and two daily flights from Los Angeles (LAX). The joint business partnership between American and Japan Airlines will thus offer customers up to 17 daily flights between the continental United States and Japan next summer, including 10 daily flights to HND.
