American Airlines plans to link Sin City with Tokyo next summer ahead of the Japanese city’s hosting of the Olympics.
AA made a submission to the U.S. Department of Transportation to operate Las Vegas flights to Tokyo Haneda, as part of a highly competitive bidding process for free slots at the Tokyo airport.
Tokyo hosts the Summer Olympics from July 2020.
The airline is backed by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and McCarran Airport, which says Las Vegas is the largest market for Japanese travelers that doesn’t already have nonstop flights.
"New flights tend to bring additional visitors in and foreign visitors stay longer and spend more money. That is why we’re so actively involved in looking for new nonstop foreign flights," said McCarran Airport spokesman Chris Jones.
Steve Hill, CEO of the LVCVA says about 250,000 Japanese travelers visit Las Vegas annually.
"We’ve seen the opportunity for quite some time and we’re really pleased that American has seen that as well now," he said.
"For us, it’s the largest opportunity that we see in terms of pure numbers of passengers."
The flight application is vying with United Airlines, Delta and Hawaiian Airlines for new or additional Tokyo flights to up to 12 US cities.
Some of these will be switching flights from Tokyo’s Narita Airport which is further away from the city.
"Tokyo is an important hub for our Pacific Joint Business with Japan Airlines. Enhanced service at Haneda would give our customers better access to downtown Tokyo and open up JAL’s domestic network," said American Airlines president Robert Isom.
American and other US carriers have previously operated one-off flight schedules from Tokyo to Las Vegas for the CES consumer tech show.
