Air Canada adds new Tokyo stop
Air Canada joined an international convergence on Tokyo’s Haneda airport Tuesday by announcing a new daily flight from Vancouver into what is becoming a bigger regional hub for Asian flights to and from Japan.
The new service, which will be in addition to Air Canada’s Vancouver to Tokyo Narita airport, will start in January along with new flights by other international airlines including American Airlines and Delta in the United States.
“Calling [Haneda] a regional hub is probably the best way to phrase it, because they are taking [flights] from the major hubs of airlines and plugging them into [Haneda’s] partner connections,” Marc-David Seidel, an airline expert in the Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C. said.
Haneda is Tokyo’s dominant domestic airport, so Seidel said Air Canada can now better tap Japan’s considerable market in the short term.
However, this Oct. 21, Haneda will open a fourth runway and a new terminal that is closer to downtown Tokyo than Narita.
Seidel added that Haneda has regional international connections through All Nippon Airways to Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Singapore, with airlines such as Singapore Air adding service to the airport.
Air Canada’s strategy is to “complement existing daily flights,” as well as improve its reach into Asia, Ben Smith, the airline’s executive vice-president and chief commercial officer said in a news release.
In July, the airline reported that its traffic to its Pacific region has increased almost 25 per cent compared with a year ago.
“We are confident our newest international flight will meet the growing demand for travel in the strong Pacific market,” Smith said.
And Asia has been the strongest growth market for Vancouver International Airport. The facility reported that its passenger traffic to and from Asia to the end of June increased almost eight per cent this year compared with 2009.