Los Angeles to Tokyo is already a very busy market, with 8x daily flights, operated by American (2x daily), ANA (2x daily), Delta (1x daily), Japan Airlines (1x daily), Singapore (1x daily), and United (1x daily). It looks like this market is now getting a ninth daily flight.
ANA has just announced that as of October 29, 2017, they’ll add a third daily flight between Tokyo Narita and Los Angeles. Presently ANA operates daily flights from both Tokyo Haneda and Tokyo Narita to Los Angeles. The new flight is expected to go on sale as of Monday, July 3, 2017 — hopefully we see lots of award seats on the new flight.
ANA’s newest frequency will be operated by a Boeing 777-300ER, featuring eight first class seats, 52 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 166 economy class seats.
The new frequency will operate with the following schedule:
NH176 Narita to Los Angeles departing 4:00PM arriving 8:40AM
NH175 Los Angeles to Narita departing 10:20AM arriving 3:20PM (+1 day)
This complements ANA’s existing daily frequency between Narita and Los Angeles:
NH6 Narita to Los Angeles departing 5:00PM arriving 9:45AM
NH5 Los Angeles to Narita departing 11:25AM arriving 4:25PM (+1 day)
As well as their daily frequency between Haneda and Los Angeles:
NH106 Haneda to Los Angeles departing 10:55PM arriving 3:50PM
NH105 Los Angeles to Haneda departing 12:05AM arriving 5:25AM (+1 day)
As well as the daily frequency of their joint venture partner, United, between Narita and Los Angeles:
UA33 Narita to Los Angeles departing 5:30PM arriving 10:30AM
UA32 Los Angeles to Narita departing 10:50AM arriving 3:45PM (+1 day)
What’s interesting is how all three flights between Narita and Los Angeles belonging to the joint venture arrive and depart around the same time, within 90 minutes of one another. I guess that’s not too surprising, given how banked most flights at Narita are. Still, you’d think there would be value in maybe having one flight at a different time.
On the surface this route seems like an ideal candidate for one of ANA’s A380s. Many airlines understandably prefer operating smaller planes and spacing out frequencies to give travelers as many options as possible, but with flights operated so close together, an A380 sure seems more efficient.
ANA will take delivery of their first A380 in early 2019, though has indicated that the plane will fly primarily between Japan and Hawaii. I’m curious if that strategy changes over time, and maybe they fly one to Los Angeles.
What do you make of ANA’s third daily flight to Los Angeles, and do you think there’s any chance they’ll operate an A380 to LA?
Membership is free and takes no more information than commenting as a guest. Earn status points for good contributions, and see fewer ads as your status grows.