American Airlines to Restart Non-Stop Flights Linking New York’s JFK and Tokyo’s Haneda Airports

Flagship First meal service on board an American Airlines flight from JFK to Haneda in 2012
American Airlines announced the restart of non-stop service between New York’s John F. Kennedy and Tokyo’s Haneda airports.
The service will restart on June 28, 2024 and offer connections to over 30 cities across Japan and East Asia operated by Japan Airlines, including Osaka, Sapporo, and Fukuoka. American will once again operate the service using Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. These planes are equipped with 37 Flagship Business business-class lie-flat seats arranged in a 1-2-1 configuration. The seats, which are just under 22” in width, extend into lie-flat beds that are 72” in length. The aircraft also features 24 premium -economy recliner seats, 66 premium-economy lite Main Cabin Extra seats, and 146 seats in coach.
While the majority of international flights arrive at Tokyo’s Narita airport an hour or more away from the city, Tokyo International Airport, or Haneda, is adjacent to Tokyo Bay and offers quick access to all parts of the city.
“Travel between these two great cities is a key ingredient in commerce and cultural exchange between the United States and Japan,” said the airline’s then vice president for New York and international services, Tim Ahern in a 2012 statement.
American was one of the initial U.S. airlines to bid for the rights to service Haneda in February 2010 and it received the route authority to serve the airport from JFK. The carrier had planned to inaugurate the service in January 2011 but posted launch to February 2011, citing low booking demand. It then temporarily discontinued the service following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan and restarted it in June 2012, at which point it also terminated its service linking JFK to Tokyo’s Narita Airport.
Those flights were operating using three-class Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with 16 seats in the airline’s Flagship First cabin.
At the time the service was resumed in 2012, Yuki Tanaka, the executive director of the New York office of the Japan National Tourism Organization commented on the resumption of service, noting that “the proximity of Haneda to downtown Tokyo will make it all the more inviting for Americans to visit this fascinating city and experience its many attractions, including the finest in culture, food, sports and entertainment.”
The Fort Worth-based carrier cancelled the route in October 2013, saying that the time slots it had been awarded were extremely inconvenient for business travelers in particular, making the route unprofitable.
In 2016, American launched non-stop service to Haneda from Los Angeles International Airport and, in 2019, the carrier commenced non-stop service to Haneda from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
Once the JFK-Haneda service is launched, the airline will operate flights to Haneda from four different U.S. gateways.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)