Over the past several months, we have been working closely with the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation and the World Trade Center San Diego, to secure a direct flight from Narita International Airport (Tokyo) into San Diego.
Japan Airlines (JAL) and the San Diego International Airport (SAN) announced today that they will launch a new nonstop service route from Narita to San Diego, starting December 2012. The route will be serviced by Boeing’s new 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, with a seat capacity of 186. San Diego is currently the largest market in the U.S. without a direct flight to Asia.
In 2010, San Diego saw 74,000 visitors from Japan, who spent an average of $3,900 per person, per trip, and stayed an average of 8 nights. In 2010, California had nearly 600,000 visitors from Japan, and the U.S. had 3.4 million Japanese visitors. The new Japan Airlines flight is the first-ever direct route into San Diego, not only from Japan, but from other Asia-Pacific Countries as well. This is a critical component to driving more direct visitors from Japan and other the emerging Asian markets.
The current plans are to launch with four flights a week starting December 2012, then increase to daily flights beginning March 2013.
For more information, read the press release.
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