American Airlines has been forced to cut Tokyo flights due weakening demand following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The airline is suspending two out of six daily flights from the US to the Japanese capital from next week.
But the flight schedule change, between April 6 and April 26, will not affect tomorrow’s launch of a joint alliance between American and Japan Airlines. The two suspended daily flights include one from Dallas-Fort Worth to Tokyo’s Narita and another from New York to Haneda airport.
American said it was suspending the services “because of decreased demand due to the recent tragic events in Japan”. American will still run a daily flight to Narita from Dallas-Fort Worth while the airline with JAL will continue to operate a daily flight to Narita from JFK.
American said affected passengers would be able to re-book their flights. Other daily flights to Japan operated by American and JAL will not be affected. Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Asiana Airlines have all have trimmed capacity to Japan since the earthquake as travel has slumped.