Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) will cancel flights between Japan and Guam from January 2018, the airline has advised. A statement from the US carrier says that "the demand has not been strong enough to sustain the route." Delta currently provides ten flights per week from Tokyo Narita.
News of the cancellation comes shortly after HK Express (UO, Hong Kong International) announced that it would postpone the launch of its Hong Kong International – Guam International via Nagoya Chubu flights due to the ongoing geopolitical instability in the area. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to 'contain' Guam and has been conducting tests of its Hwasong-12 missile over Japan. Guam, located in the Western Pacific, is the nearest US territory to North Korea and is home to several largescale United States Air Force and United States Navy bases.
"The current ballistic rocket launching drill like a real war is the first step of the military operation of the KPA [Korean People's Army] in the Pacific and a meaningful prelude to containing Guam," North Korean state media reported, following a test missile launch last month.
Tourism to the island has been affected by the threats, with the Guam Visitors Bureau reporting that Guam lost USD9.5 million in August after suffering more than 7,000 individual cancellations from tours, school groups and conferences.
"Before the North Korea tension, our visitor arrivals for this August were expected to be the top month in Guam’s history. Instead, there was a slight decline. The last thing we need is for this trend to continue," said Guam Governor Eddie Baza Calvo.
Flights between Japan and Guam are still provided by JAL - Japan Airlines, which flies 1x daily from Tokyo Narita; t'way Air, which flies 1x daily from Osaka Kansai; and United Airlines, which flies from Tokyo Narita, Nagoya Chubu, Osaka Kansai, Fukuoka, Sapporo Chitose, and Sendai. United accounts for more than 70% of all capacity.
