JAL adds third Tokyo-Vegas flight

Friday, Sept. 11, 1998 | 11:10 a.m.

Japan Airlines said it will add a third weekly non-stop flight between Tokyo and Las Vegas in November.

The announcement comes three weeks from JAL's inauguration of twice-a-week nonstop service.

Japan's largest international air carrier will launch flights between Narita International Airport and McCarran International on Oct. 2 on Tuesdays and Fridays, then add a Sunday flight beginning Nov. 1, said Bob Gano, a JAL spokesman.

Return flights on JAL's Boeing 747 jets will stop in Los Angeles before continuing to Tokyo. While the flights that begin in October will leave on their return a few hours after arriving in Las Vegas, the airline has not determined whether the Sunday flight will return immediately or depart Monday.

"We're very pleased Japan Airlines has added to its Las Vegas schedule so quickly," said Harry Kassap of McCarran.

Kassap was among the members of Gov. Bob Miller's tourism-building contingent that traveled to Tokyo in June to explore adding direct air service to Las Vegas. The airline announced its decision to fly to McCarran when Miller met with former JAL president Akira Kondo on his visit.

JAL's decision to add the Las Vegas flights came after the airline secured more landing slots at Narita. Japan's Ministry of Transportation added 86 new weekly lots for the winter season, from late October to March 31. The agency awarded 14 to JAL and 22 to All Nippon Airlines, the nation's largest domestic carrier, with the rest going to other airlines.

Encouraged by advanced bookings, JAL began studying the Las Vegas flight when the new slots came available and Gano confirmed the addition on Thursday.

Kassap, who has been monitoring the Northwest Airlines pilots' strike since it began in late August, said that company's Tokyo-Las Vegas route had been picking up steam until the strike shut down that company's twice-a-week service from Japan.

The announcement of the additional Asian flight came on a day when Miller is playing host to 21 tour wholesalers from Mexico. They were invited in a bid to increase tourism from Mexico after Miller's second international tourism mission, to Latin America.

Representatives from Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Four Seasons, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Las Vegas Hilton, MGM Grand, the Rio and the Venetian are meeting with the tour operators today. Three Mexican airlines have agreed to increase charter service to Las Vegas from Mexico City, Monterrey, Leon and Guadalajara next year.

Miller also is planning a European trade mission next month.