Hawaiian Airlines today received tentative approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) to shift its current daily flight between Honolulu and Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport in to a coveted daytime schedule.
The new flights will begin on October 29, 2016.
This morning’s tentative award follows a DOT ruling in May granting Hawaiian a nighttime slot pair to provide daily service between Haneda and Kona three times weekly and Haneda and Honolulu four times weekly. That service will launch on December 20, 2016, giving Hawaiian Airlines two daily flights between Haneda and the Hawaiian Islands.
“We commend the U.S. DOT for recognizing both the success of our existing Haneda service and the immense value that Hawaiian provides to travelers and to our state’s economy,” said Mark Dunkerley, president and chief executive officer of Hawaiian Airlines.
“We believe that allowing us to arrive and depart earlier in the day will enhance our already popular Honolulu route. Combined with the additional capacity between Honolulu and Kona we will be able to fulfill the demand for a Hawai’i vacation from travelers coming from Japan’s most populous city while giving back to our community and all local businesses through increased tourism to Hawai’i.”
Dunkerley also expressed gratitude for the strong support for Hawaiian’s application offered by Hawai’i’s Congressional delegation.
Hawai’i’s largest and longest serving carrier was among the first three U.S. airlines granted authority to operate at Tokyo’s Haneda airport in 2010. For the last six years Hawaiian has successfully provided its daily nighttime service between Tokyo and Honolulu, flying more passengers out of Haneda than any other U.S. carrier. Its service to Honolulu has added at least $941 million to the U.S. gross domestic product, generated $564 million in direct spending and led to the creation of 2,337 new jobs.
Hawaiian’s Honolulu to Haneda service served as a springboard for an expanded Japan network that today includes: Osaka (July 2011) and Sapporo (October 2012).
This Friday, July 22, the airline will start service to its fourth destination in Japan, with daily nonstop service between Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) and Honolulu.