LV has high hopes for Japan, Northwest

Tuesday, June 2, 1998 | 10:38 a.m.

For Chris Nee, it was a routine flight in nearly every way.

But the welcoming party on the ground was unlike anything he had ever experienced.

Nee was the captain of the Northwest Airlines Boeing 747 that landed one minute ahead of schedule on the maiden journey of Flight 78, nonstop from Tokyo to Las Vegas on Monday. Because the plane crossed the international date line and several time zones, the flight landed at 10:09 a.m., after taking off at around 4 Monday afternoon.

About 10 hours after the plane landed with 200 passengers aboard, it was greeted at McCarran International Airport under a water shower from firehoses. A flight attendant opened the cabin door as the jumbo jet taxied to the international terminal's Gate 4.

For Nee, it was a return to Las Vegas after two years. He used to fly Boeing 757 jets between Northwest's headquarters in Minneapolis and Las Vegas. But on Monday, he was greeted by a troupe of showgirls and received some unexpected adulation from some of the passengers who wanted to be photographed with him at a reception marking the inaugural flight.

"We usually swing in over the (Hoover) dam and approach from the southeast, but today we came in along the mountains and circled in," said Nee. "We had a pretty good view of the Strip and we came in."

The landmarks are different today than they were when Nee flew domestically. Nee noted that today, the Luxor and the still-unfinished Mandalay Bay hotel-casinos -- two Circus Circus properties that stand to benefit considerably from the arrival of direct flights from the Pacific Rim -- sit near the west end of McCarran's longest runway.

Circus Circus President Glenn Schaeffer remarked at a breakfast meeting hosted by Sen. Richard Bryan preceding the arrival of Flight 78 that although the Mandalay Bay isn't ready for guests yet, the other Circus properties and resorts throughout Southern Nevada are gearing for the arrival of more Asian visitors expected from the new Northwest service and the inevitable competitors that will join in.

"Today is truly a good day for Las Vegas," added Hector Mon, president of the Nevada Resort Association and an executive with Harrah's Las Vegas.

Bryan, D-Nev., who pressed for the new bilaterial agreement that allows Northwest and three other airlines to serve more cities directly from Japan, said he would continue to work for more pacts, including the more liberal "open skies agreements," to further expand international air service for Las Vegas.

International travel and growth in convention visits are two components on which the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is focusing to fill hotels when 20,000 new rooms come on line in the next three years.

Bryan noted that while the market of fliers from overseas is growing, the U.S. share of international travelers has been declining in the past decade. That's why it's important to update treaties with other nations -- and why he said he wants to work with the country that seems to be the toughest market to crack, Great Britain.

Las Vegas lost a bid for direct service from London late last year when British aviation authorities opted to award a slot to British Airways to fly routes to Denver instead of a Virgin Atlantic Airlines bid to fly to Las Vegas.

Another market that holds considerable promise for Las Vegas, Bryan said, is China.

"One-fifth of the population of the planet lives in China," he said. "That's not a bad market."

Two Northwest executives who made a presentation at Bryan's breakfast emphasized the potential as well.

Laura Liu, managing director of international revenue management for Northwest, said her company is still evaluating the benefits of the signing of an alliance with Air China last month. Northwest, which pioneered international alliances when it struck a deal with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in 1993, uses the agreement to sell tickets, develop compatible scheduling and provide additional benefits for members of frequent flier programs.

In the Air China alliance, the large Chinese carrier will shuttle international travelers to Beijing, a city also served by Northwest. Beijing is one of eight Asian cities with nonstop access to Tokyo's Narita Airport and the potential of connecting to the Las Vegas flight. Northwest has only one direct flight between the United States and Beijing, from Detroit. Northwest officials say the flight is popular with automakers attempting to penetrate the Chinese market. The 15-hour flight is the longest in the world by any air carrier.

As far as the impact of the new Northwest flight on Las Vegas, the LVCVA is hopeful it will improve on the 311,000 passengers that flew to Japan in 1996 via other U.S. gateways and airlines. Northwest said it is conservatively estimating the new flight will generate 30,000 Asian visits a year. Rossi Ralenkotter, vice president of marketing with the LVCVA, said the nongaming impact of Japanese visitors is estimated at $17.5 million a year.

Northwest's entry into the market is likely to generate competition. Japan Airlines, the leading Japanese international carrier and the largest carrier at Narita International Airport, is expected to announce next week its plans for a nonstop flight to Las Vegas beginning later this year. JAL officials are meeting with airport officials this week to finalize lease arrangements.

The two other carriers with landing rights in Japan and the United States, United Airlines and Japan's All Nippon Airlines, are striking their own alliance and are expected to use it to carry passengers to Las Vegas via the West Coast.

Gov. Bob Miller is scheduled to meet with each of the airlines next week in Tokyo in an effort to generate additional interest in nonstop flights between Tokyo and Las Vegas.

Chris Clouser, senior vice president for administration with Northwest, said his company is stepping up its marketing efforts for Las Vegas in order to maximize the success of the new route. Clouser said Northwest is offering promotional sale fares from all Asian countries and is offering bonus mileage on frequent flier programs for flights to Las Vegas.

In addition, Northwest is working with Asian tour operators to build packages, sponsoring travel agency seminars and is advertising on Northwest's Japanese World Wide Web site. JTB, a giant tour operator based in Tokyo with which Northwest works, has access to an estimated 4 billion travelers throughout Asia.

Northwest also offered community events for favored customers in Tokyo and Las Vegas, sponsoring concerts in both cities prior to the flight kickoff. The Neville Brothers performed at Cashman Field on Sunday while the Beach Boys had a tour of Northwest's Asian cities.

Clouser said Las Vegas could develop its own packages and could contribute to making Japanese guests comfortable with a few improvements -- like signs in Japanese at McCarran. Randy Walker, Clark County's director of aviation, said his staff is already on the signage issue.

The international touch will not only be needed at Terminal 2, where international flights arrive, but at the new D concourse, where Northwest's gates will be based in two weeks. Northwest's 747 will come in at one terminal and taxi to the other when it arrives twice a week, leaving passengers where they can enter U.S. Customs and departing from the new gates where most of McCarran's long-range flights will leave.

Clouser encouraged local resort officials to increase their knowledge of Japanese culture and to add staff capable of communicating in their native language. It was also suggested that UNLV step up its student exchange programs with Japan and that sister city relationships with Japanese cities be renewed.

The final sendoff was the party at McCarran when the first plane arrived. Dignitaries' speeches were translated to Japanese by Kyosuke Okada, the representative to Japan and Asia for the LVCVA and the Nevada Commission on Tourism, who was in the United States for a major travel and tourism convention in Chicago. He returned to Tokyo on Northwest's inaugural return flight, a nonstop that will leave every Thursday and Monday at 1:10 p.m.

Northwest plans to closely monitor the Las Vegas flight. The airline hopes to fill at least 80 percent of the 400 seats each flight. If planes are full regularly, the company said it would consider adding frequency.

Thanking the passengers who arrived Monday, Clouser encouraged them to "please fly back and forth -- very often."

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