American Airlines Adds Chicago To Tokyo Narita Route: Cool But Sort Of Boring

American Airlines has revealed plans to launch a new daily flight between Chicago and Tokyo, which is a route resumption, and also represents American’s return of Asia flying out of Chicago. I’m delighted to see American adding new long haul service, though this is also about as boring as it gets (which isn’t to say it’s a bad idea, but…).

American will once again fly from Chicago to Asia

As of March 27, 2027, American intends to launch daily nonstop flights between Chicago (ORD) and Tokyo Narita (NRT). The airline will use one of its standard Boeing 787-9s for the 6,272-mile route, featuring 305 seats, including 30 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 254 economy seats.

This service technically represents a route resumption, since American last flew this until January 2020. So this wasn’t a pandemic cut at the time, but instead, it was cut shortly before that, as American increasingly retreated out of Chicago.

American otherwise services Tokyo Narita exclusively out of Dallas (DFW), while the airline offers service to Tokyo Haneda (HND) out of Dallas, Los Angeles (LAX), and New York (JFK). This is obviously part of American’s effort to increasingly compete against United in Chicago, given the extent to which United has gained market share there in recent years, and American is trying to undo that.

We recently saw American announce it would permanently cancel its route between Philadelphia (PHL) and Doha (DOH), and would add a new long haul route to replace it. I suspect that this is the route.

More long haul service is great, but this is kind of boring

American’s long haul route network is incredibly uninspiring, especially compared to United, and even increasingly in comparison to Delta now. It’s sad, because it didn’t used to be that way.

As I’ve often said, American’s long haul route network is great for Latin America, but beyond that, the airline basically flies to joint venture hubs and does some seasonal summer flying to Europe. That’s of course a slight oversimplification, but that’s how I view it, big picture, in terms of the cohesive strategy.

What do I make of this route? Well, American is adding yet another route that’s simply to a joint venture hub, so it’s hard to get too excited about that. Keep in mind that joint venture partner Japan Airlines already flies daily to Chicago from both Tokyo Narita and Tokyo Haneda, so American is simply replicating what its joint venture partner is doing. Keep in mind the airlines can coordinate fares, schedules, etc.

What’s the upside here for passengers? I guess a new way to redeem miles and use systemwide upgrades, but in terms of passenger experience, and all else being equal, I think just about anyone would choose Japan Airlines over American.

Don’t get me wrong, something is better than nothing, but my hope is always for growth that isn’t simply duplicating a joint venture partner’s route.

Bottom line

American Airlines plans to resume daily nonstop flights between Chicago and Tokyo Narita as of March 2027. This is a route that the airline last operated in early 2020, and when it was cut, it represented the end of American’s service from Chicago to Asia.

With the battle between American and United in Chicago heating up, American clearly feels it needs to fly to Asia again from the airport. I suppose that’s fair, though this is simply another route to a joint venture hub, and it also replicates a route operated by partner Japan Airlines.

I’d love to see American actually permanently add long haul service to new destinations, but that’s not really the carrier’s strategy.

What do you make of American adding Chicago to Tokyo Narita flights?