Intense Competition On Sea-Tac-Tokyo Route Takes First Casualty

Nov. 21, 2013

United Airlines is dropping its Seattle-Tokyo route beginning in mid-January

Source The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)

Nov. 19--United Airlines is dropping its Seattle-Tokyo route beginning in mid-January.

The airline had flown the non-stop route between Sea-Tac Airport and Tokyo's Narita Airport since 1983.

The airline is eliminating its Asian connection from Seattle under intense competition from Japan's All-Nippon Airways and Delta Air Lines. Delta now has two non-stop flights from Sea-Tac to Tokyo, one to Narita and the other to the more centrally located Haneda Airport.

United had down-sized its aircraft on the route from a Boeing 777 to a Boeing 787 in the face of the new competition, but that measure apparently wasn't enough to make the route profitable.

Delta is in the midst of a big expansion at Sea-Tac. The Atlanta-based carrier now flies to both Tokyo airports from Sea-Tac and to Shanghai and Beijing. The airline has announced plans to begin non-stop flights from Sea-Tac to Hong Kong and Seoul next year.

Delta also has international flights from Seattle to Paris and Amsterdam. It will add a flight to London next spring.