American Airlines will be expanding its services from the United States to Asia next summer. Certain routes to Shanghai and Tokyo will benefit from larger aircraft catering to business-focused travelers.

American increasing capacity on flights to Asia

This will result in overall capacity increases across the affected routes, despite frequencies remaining the same. The sectors include:

American Airlines Boeing 777-200ER

Photo: Ian Dewar Photography | Shutterstock

The focus on Tokyo increases are important. This, complemented by the carrier’s recently launched New York connection, are a testament to its importance within American’s network. American says:

“Customers will have more access to Tokyo and beyond with larger aircraft operating on all of American’s flights from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Los Angeles (LAX) to Japan. And, with codeshare services operated by American’s partners, customers can easily access more than 30 additional destinations across Japan and East Asia with just one stop.”

We take a look at the Tokyo routes on offer for next summer.

A double connection from Dallas

Next summer – as per this summer – American Airlines will be flying twice daily from Dallas to Tokyo. It offers one daily flight to Haneda Airport and another to Narita. Slot constraints at Haneda likely mean the carrier cannot shift over its complete offer. Two aircraft types will be used on the route, notably the Boeing 777-200 for services to Narita and a Boeing 787-9 on the Haneda sector. Here is a summary of the differences between this year’s August 2024 operation and the plan for next summer.

Origin

Destination

Aircraft – August 2024

Aircraft – Summer 2025

Dallas Fort Worth (DFW)

Tokyo Haneda (HND)

787-8

787-9

Dallas Fort Worth (DFW)

Tokyo Narita (NRT)

787-8

777-200

According to Cirium data, the Boeing 787-8 offered 7,254 monthly seats on each sector in August 2024. Both planes selected for next summer will increase seat capacity.

American Airlines B787 flying

Photo: Lukas Wunderlich | Shutterstock

Services from Los Angeles

The Boeing 787-8 also presently flies on the Los Angeles to Tokyo sector with AA. Next year, the carrier plans to deploy its Boeing 787-9 on the flight instead, operating twice a day. In August 2024, American offered 14,508 seats on the route, competing against a whopping four other airlines. While Los Angeles may well be the largest US market from Tokyo, it is certainly a challenge competing against so many other well-established players. This includes:

Note that Japan Airlines is also a member of the oneworld
Alliance
.

Recent New York entry

At the start of this year, it became clear that American Airlines had come out victorious in the battle with United Airlines to claim Delta Air Lines’ recently relinquished slots at Haneda airport. While United wanted to launch flights from Houston (and hence closing its Houston-Narita route in favour of a Haneda flight), American had hoped to fly from New York JFK Airport
.

Ultimately, the US Transportation Department (DOT) selected AA. At the time, it said:

“The record shows that New York City is the second largest mainland U.S.-Tokyo O&D market, second only to Los Angeles, and the largest such market proposed in this proceeding. Selection of American would add the only U.S. carrier-operated Haneda service from JFK, and offer an additional competitive option for travelers between the largest cities and commercial/financial hubs of the United States and Japan, respectively”

Japan_American-Route-Map-2024

Photo: American Airlines

Flights began on June 28, operating daily with a Boeing 777-200. These are expected to continue next summer, and are bookable on the carrier’s website. However, the American Airlines website does list the Boeing 787-9 as the equipment on offer.

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