Hawaiian Airlines Completes Application for Tokyo-Kona Nonstop Service
14-Sep-2012 Hawaiian Airlines today completed its application to operate daily nonstop service between Tokyo International Airport at Haneda and Kona International Airport at Keahole on Hawai'i Island.
Included in the application to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) were 175 letters of support for the route from businesses and individuals throughout the state.
"Our application did an extremely good job of outlining the public benefit in establishing a daily nonstop route between Tokyo and Kona," said Mark Dunkerley, president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines. "This route would bring an additional $74 million into the state and U.S. economies every year, supporting an additional 1,400 jobs - mostly on the Island of Hawai'i."
"We are very grateful to our community for rallying behind this application," Dunkerley added.
Kona has been without a nonstop flight from Japan since October 29, 2010, when Japan Airlines discontinued direct service from Narita Airport.
Hawaiian is competing for the routes against three legacy carriers: Delta, which hopes to fly from Tokyo to Seattle in partnership with Alaska Airlines; American Airlines, which hopes to fly between Tokyo and Los Angeles; and United Airlines, which is seeking approval for a Tokyo-San Francisco route.
The route was originally awarded to Delta Airlines in 2010 for service between Tokyo and Detroit, and was opened up for bid by the DOT last month after Delta asked for permission to transfer its rights to the Tokyo-Seattle service.
In its application, Hawaiian said it intends to begin service approximately 90 days after DOT approval, or approximately March 15, 2013, using its 294-seat wide body Airbus A330-200 aircraft.
The daily flight would depart from Kona at 5:30 p.m. and arrive in Tokyo at 10:00 p.m. the following day. The return flight would depart Tokyo at 11:55 p.m. and arrive in Kona at 12:45 p.m. the same day.
If approved, this would be Hawaiian's fifth Japan route and fourth daily nonstop flight between Japan and Hawai'i. The airline already operates daily service to Honolulu from Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, and will begin service to Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido three times per week on October 30, 2012.