Tokyo Airports most affected city by 787 grounding, losing 264 weekly flights

With Japan's two leading airlines - All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines - having about half of the world's 787 deliveries and being based in Tokyo, Japan's capital has become the most affected city by the grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. ANA and JAL operate out of Tokyo Haneda and Tokyo Narita, and it is Haneda airport alone that has seen the widest impact as there are 229 weekly 787 frequencies, more than four times the next largest 787 airport, Delhi. Tokyo Narita sees the third most number of 787 services with 35 weekly flights.

Yet Japan's carriers, and ANA especially, should be best equipped to mitigate the grounding. Schedules have slack and system load factors are low, at around 60-70%.

A political dispute between China and Japan has seen capacity on bilateral routes fall by over 20%, giving further wiggle room in schedules. One saving grace of this incident, provided it is resolved soon, is that this is the low season for travel. That is not to say airlines will not face challenges - or find the situation acceptable. But, for airports, there is an unavoidable loss of revenues, as these airlines reduce their 787 services.