JAL to Reopen Haneda-N.Y. Route Next Spring after 39 Yrs

Tokyo, Oct. 15 (Jiji Press)--Japan Airlines <9201> is considering beginning passenger flights between Tokyo International Airport at Haneda and New York next spring, reopening the route scrapped in 1978, informed sources have said. JAL has been bound by restrictions on new route openings introduced because it received public assistance for rehabilitation from its bankruptcy in 2010. But the restrictions are slated to end in March 2017. The airlines scrapped the Haneda-New York route in 1978, when the company switched to use the Narita airport in Chiba Prefecture for flights to and from the U.S. city, instead of the Haneda airport in central Tokyo. Demand for JAL flights between Haneda and New York is expected be strong from both tourists and business people. The reopened route is likely to help increase visits to Japan from the United States. All Nippon Airways, a major rival of JAL, is set to start flights between Haneda and New York on Oct. 30. Competition is expected to intensify after JAL's reopening of the route. <9202> END