TokyoTomo Travel Guide

Delta Air Lines announced its flight schedules from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to Detroit and Los Angeles. The airline is scheduled to offer direct access to its 106 destinations from Detroit and 21 destinations from Los Angeles across the United States. The airline plans to start operating the respective new routes from the end of January 2011, pending government approval. Ticket sales meanwhile started on July 18 at the airline’s call center, and through its travel agencies. The routes are to be served by Boeing B747-400 configured with 65 Business and 338 Economy class seats, totaling 403.

Delta Air Lines has meanwhile implemented a plan to improve its services both in the air and on the ground, investing 300 million US dollars per year with an aggregate investment of one billion US dollars. By mid-July, the airline endeavors to introduce full-flat bed seats in the Business class on 90 aircraft serving the Pacific and the Atlantic routes. It also plans to install in-seat on-demand audio and video monitors in Economy class on all of its wide body aircraft. The Haneda/U.S. route will receive the same upgrading.

The New Tokyo’s Haneda/U.S. route is scheduled as follows:

+1 Arrival on next day
-1 Arrival on previous day

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) officially granted on July 6 four new routes between Tokyo’s Haneda Airport and U.S.A. to American Airlines (AA), Delta Air Lines (DL) and Hawaiian Airlines (HA). These four new routes, which had been provisionally approved by DOT on May 7 this year, include American Airlines’ Haneda/New York route, Delta Air Lines’ Haneda/Los Angeles and Haneda/Detroit routes and Hawaiian Airlines’ Haneda/Honolulu route. Meanwhile, Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau (CAB) at Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) reminded that Hawaiian Airlines will still have to apply for a CAB approval for the “International Air Transport Services by Foreign Nationals.” Also, these three carriers which include American Airlines and Delta Air Lines are requested to submit to Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) the respective new or revised business plans, whichever applicable, and file the respective air fares with MLIT.

Hawaiian Airline has meanwhile announced its first flight from Haneda Airport slated for October 31 this year. Mark B. Dunkerley, President & Chief Executive Officer at Hawaiian Airlines had said during the media briefing held on May 19 that although the airline’s first priority was to obtain an official approval to operate one flight per day, it was hopeful to add the second frequency in the foreseeable future in order to expand its Japan route. In efforts to foster its relationship with travel agencies, he added, Hawaiian Airlines intends to finely tune the ratio between its direct sales and the agency sales. Aircraft to be put into service will be Boeing B767-300ER configured with 264 passenger seats. The airline also plans to introduce a 294-seater Airbus A330-200 later on.

American Airlines (AA) has also revealed that it is scheduled to launch its inaugural flight from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on January 12 next year. Aircraft to be introduced on the new Haneda/U.S. route will be Boeing B777. Meanwhile, Japan Airlines (JL), a member of the same Oneworld alliance, plans to operate new services between Haneda and San Francisco and also between Haneda and Honolulu starting from October 31 this year. Consequently, Oneworld will be able to enhance its route network between Tokyo’s Haneda and U.S.A.

Delta Air Lines has not yet released its inaugural flight date. The airline intends to announce its flight schedule within the next few weeks, however. Masaki Ito, Director of Sales, Japan at Delta Air Lines, Inc. has told the Travel Vision News that its new Haneda/U.S. routes should provide passenger-friendly schedules especially for business travelers, adding that the airline is convinced of the possibility of attracting new market segments in the Japan market. He has also told the Travel Vision News that he would like to draw attention to the new routes and suggest a new travel style different from its current Narita/U.S. route, taking advantage of the airline’s late evening departures from Haneda Airport. With a quickly growing seat capacity from Tokyo’s Haneda, the airlines concerned must make concerted efforts together with travel agencies in order to create and boost travel demand, capitalizing on the newly granted routes between Haneda and U.S., emphasized Ito of Delta Air Lines.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.

Delta Air Lines, as part of its sales campaign for summer, has produced “Uchiwa” paper fans to extol its route network and stated distributing them to travel agencies. It began in 2009 and this summer sees the airline’s second distribution of “Uchiwa.” Masaki Ito, Director of Sales, Japan at Delta Air Lines, Inc. said, “It helps enhance communication with travel agencies as much as it helps extol our route network.” The response has been quite favorable among the travel agencies. In 2009, the airline distributed “Uchiwa” fans to 300 locations of travel agencies in Tokyo alone and 500 nationwide. This summer, Delta expects to increase the distribution by 50 percent targeting 750 travel agency locations.

At Delta Air Lines, some 50 staff from its Japan offices make a walk-in sales call in pairs to travel agencies, distributing a set of 20 “Uchiwa” fans and the stand. During the walk-in sales visit, Delta staff collect information on the agency sales strategy and requests they may have to the airline. The feedback should help the airline improve its future sales activities, said Ito. Every “Uchiwa” shows the airline logo together with pictures of its six destinations that include Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, Seattle, Prince Edward Island and Portland. By extolling Delta Air Lines’ route network and destinations through travel agencies, as Ito said, the airline expects its flight reservations to kick off well from the end of July onward

JTB Tokyo Metropolitan Corp., Nipponbashi Branch, visited by Ito, commented, “We see Delta’s enthusiasm and we appreciate his personal visit,” adding, “It indeed helps foster communication with the airline.” Delta Air Lines intends to continue the sales campaign also next year and beyond in efforts to further boost sales in concert with the travel agencies.

Source: Travel Vision

Travel Vision Inc. provides information on the travel industry in Japan via "Daily Travel Vision", a Japanese-language e-mail newsletter, and the "Travel Vision" website. There are nearly 110,000 people working in the Japanese travel industry, and Travel Vision is proud to be bringing travel news to more than 30,000 people through Daily Travel Vision.