Opening Japanese Skies See Competition On U.S. Routes
<B> Opening Japanese Skies See Competition On U.S. Routes</B>
By Robert Selwitz
With a new, more liberalized United States-Japan air agreement in effect, a number of new transpacific services have debuted, or soon will be launched.
All Nippon Airways, for example, started service Dec. 1 between Tokyo and San Francisco. Said spokesman Tom Fredo, "the new flight departs at 10:40 a.m. and arrives at Tokyo's Narita International Airport at 2:30 p.m. the following day. This allows quick Narita connections to ANA flights bound for Singapore at 3:45 p.m. or Bangkok at 4:30 p.m."
The Tokyo-San Francisco return departs at 4:40 p.m. and arrives the same day at 8:50 a.m., which allows passengers bound for the United States to make easy and convenient connections to dozens of domestic flights.
The new routes are among the nearly 400 flights that All Nippon codeshares with United Airlines. As of Oct. 25, the carriers codeshared transpacific, U.S. and Japan services on each other's planes. As a result, ANA now can offer service to Boston, Chicago, Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle, while United can place its code on flights to Fukuoka, Nagoya, Okinawa and Sapporo.
Both carriers said they expect the list of codeshared destinations to grow.
In addition, members of the ANA Mileage Club and United's Mileage Plus frequent flyer programs can earn miles in the program of their choice for all flights operated by either carrier. Members also can redeem earned miles for award travel on the networks of both.
On Dec. 20, American Airlines will commence daily flights between Dallas/Ft. Worth and Osaka. That will give the carrier daily nonstop connections to four cities, including Dallas as well as Chicago, San Jose and Seattle. American also operates a daily DFW/Tokyo flight.
American spokesman John Hotard reported that the new link will allow DFW travelers to choose to land in either of Japan's top two business cities.
"That's particularly beneficial to Osaka-bound passengers who, to date, have had either to switch to a Japan domestic carrier in Narita or to Japan Rail service," he said. "For them, our Osaka nonstop should be a real time saver."
Hotard also noted that, despite earlier hopes, American will not be initiating nonstop service to Japan from Boston or New York's JFK Airport during 1999. Ultimately, though, he expects those cities to be added, as well as additional flights to Asian countries, including Japan.
Continental Airlines recently has launched daily nonstop flights between Newark and Tokyo, and the carrier is getting ready for the start-up of a new operation that will link Houston and Tokyo.
If all goes according to schedule, the new route should commence on, or soon after, Jan. 31. Operated via a 777 aircraft, the daily service is expected to have a huge impact on Houston, which is the fourth largest city in the United States and the largest one that still does not offer direct service to Asian destinations.
According to Houston Airport System spokesman Richard Fernandez, "Recent studies show this Japan link will have an $800 million annual economic impact upon Houston. In addition, it will relieve pressure on nonstop service to Asia from Texas, now available only out of Dallas/Ft. Worth, and should provide competitively positive downward pressures on international rates."
Fernandez also said the new flight will be of particular interest to the large Asian population in the areas surrounding Houston, especially those having business interests in Japan.
The benefits should extend beyond the larger destinations to other Asian countries as well, Fernandez added. He estimated that more than 100,000 Houston residents have relatives or direct business ties to Vietnam, for example. The new service is viewed as a conduit for flights providing easy connections in Narita to Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi. The same is true for destinations in Taiwan and Korea, he said.
Houston Airport System also hopes that once the Narita flights prove popular and profitable, nonstop service to other Asian business centers will follow.
Another announced schedule addition, though further in the future, is Delta Air Lines service beginning next June between Portland, Ore., and Osaka. The Delta route will provide competition to the existing service to Japan, which includes: Japan Airlines' Las Vegas-Tokyo service; United's Seattle-Tokyo route; Delta's Portland, Ore.-Fukuoka City service; and Northwest Airlines' flights between Detroit and Nagoya.