United Airlines Expands Service to Hawaii with Second Daily Flight from Tokyo

United Airlines is to add a second daily flight between Tokyo-Narita, Japan (NRT) and Honolulu, Hawaii (HNL) effective June 11, 2004. Flights are available for booking from February 10, 2004.

Following the return of United’s daily Osaka-Honolulu service last March, this addition brings United’s Japan-Hawaii service to three flights a day, further strengthening United’s leadership position in the Hawaiian market. The new flight addresses rising consumer demand in both the Japan-Hawaii market and the broader Pacific region.

"This expansion is in response to a steady rise in customer demand and builds on our leadership serving the Hawaiian Islands," said Graham Atkinson, senior vice president - worldwide sales and alliances. "This second-daily Tokyo-Honolulu service complements our existing 24 daily flights to Hawaii from the U.S. mainland and Japan, and reinforces our strong commitment to the Hawaiian Islands and the entire Pacific region."

United will fly its second-daily Tokyo-Honolulu service with a Boeing 777 aircraft configured with 10 seats in first class, 49 seats in business class and 194 seats in economy class. UA866 will leave NRT at 7:55 pm Tokyo time and arrive at HNL at 8:00 am the same day. The return leg, UA867, will depart HNL at 11:00 am and arrive at NRT at 2:00 pm the next day.

"The addition of a second daily United flight between Tokyo and Honolulu is welcome news and another sign of the confidence airlines have in our state's strengthening visitor market," said Governor Linda Lingle, who met with United chairman, president and CEO, Glenn Tilton, last December and with airline officials in Japan last July to discuss expanding air service to the Islands. "We will continue to work to increase seating capacity to accommodate visitor demands, especially from Japan."

United has been serving Hawaii since 1947 and offers the most flights to the Hawaiian Islands from the U.S. mainland, in addition to daily international service from Osaka and Tokyo. All together, United serves four Hawaiian islands - Kauai, Maui, Oahu and Hawaii - from the mainland, and codeshares with Aloha to Lanai.