American Airlines launches New York to Tokyo cargo route
American Airlines Cargo has begun services from New York’s John F Kennedy airport into Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. The airport had been off-limits to US carriers since 1978, but four routes were opened up as part of the Open Skies bilateral agreement between the US and Japan last October.
American, which already serves Tokyo’s Narita Airport, was one of three airlines awarded the new routes into Haneda, along with Delta Airlines and Hawaiian.
Cargo services will make use of a wide-bodied Boeing 777 passenger aircraft, with the very first flight landing in Haneda on Friday, with the first return service landing at JFK on Sunday (February 20).
The new daily non-stop service departs JFK airport at 6.10pm, arriving 10.15pm the next day, with the return service leaving Haneda at 6.40am and arriving 5.15am the same day thanks to the time difference (all times local).
American said its new cargo service came as freight markets in Asia are leading global growth in air cargo volumes.
A report from the International Air Transport Association published earlier this month said the Asia-Pacific region will see the highest growth rate for international freight up to 2014, forecasting a 9.8% growth rate for the next three years.
Dave Brooks, President of American Airlines Cargo, said: “Our new flight opens important new daily trade lane opportunities for our customers, with connections throughout the United States and Latin America from Asia, and new connections throughout Japan from Haneda.”
Connections
Before the Open Skies pact, Haneda Airport had been used mainly for domestic flights, but along with the completion of a fourth runway last year came a new international terminal.
Haneda Airport benefits from a closer proximity to the centre of Tokyo – it is just over eight miles from the city centre compared to Narita’s 35 miles. The airport is the third largest air cargo hub in Japan after Narita and Kansai, but previously the only international cargo handled was on a route to Hong Kong.
American Airlines spokesperson Jennifer Pemberton told Post&Parcel today that the fact that Haneda was the main domestic airport for Tokyo would give the new trans-Pacific cargo service good connections to Japan’s domestic air network.
As well as connecting up to other Japanese destinations, on the American side the new routes are set to provide another link between Latin America and Japan.
American Airlines said it was expecting to move outbound US consignments of flowers from South America and seafood from America’s East Coast aboard the new service, while auto parts and construction equipment are “likely” commodities going the other way to final destinations including Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
As well as opening up new routes into Haneda Airport, last year’s Open Skies agreement between the US and Japan abandoned restrictions that let only three US carriers – Delta, United and FedEx – serve all Japanese markets with unlimited flights.
While UPS is expected to benefit from increased service flexibility in the long term under the Open Skies agreement, it currently uses Narita and Osaka airports as gateways into Japan.
Security
As with cargo on all US outbound and inbound passenger flights, the new Haneda-JFK route will be subject to the security regime imposed by the US Transport Security Administration following last fall’s foiled terrorism plot.
Pemberton said American Airlines was on the case regarding 100% screening requirements.
She said: “We have been leading the way trying to get the industry and the shipping community aware of the requirements for 100% screening outbound US, but the new deadline for inbound US is now December 31st 2011 – so by the end of the year the requirements for inbound screening will be at 100% as well – and new security requirements are coming in all the time.”
However, the American Airlines spokesperson added: “American Airlines currently at most of our facilities is already at 100% for inbound and outbound, so we’re on it for sure.”
