Delta To End Routes to Tokyo/Narita (Boeing)

[BugsyPal]

Sometimes you eat the bear, and sometimes the bear eats you.




Delta ends routes at Tokyo's Narita airport, signalling start of major shift in Asia - StarTribune.com

[nc17]

Haneda is a fairly small airport. It has some restructuring (expanding) to do if they want to shoulder the international traffic. Especially with the impending Olympics.

[PacoMartin]

Until recently, Japan only had two airlines that flew internationally, both signed up with rival Alliances to Sky Team
Japan Airlines 1 April 2007 Oneworld - 173 aircraft
All Nippon Airways 15 October 1999 Star Alliance - 210 aircraft

Recently four new LCC international airlines have been incorporated, but they have only ~50 narrowbodies between them.
2012 Jetstar Japan 20 Airbus A320-200 @ 180 seats
2012 Peach Air 17 Airbus A320-200 @ 180 seats
2013 Vanilla Air 9 Airbus A320-200 @ 180 seats
2014 Spring Airlines 3 Boeing 737-800 @189 seats

So what is SkyTeam to do? They tried desperately to seduce JAL away from Oneword about 6 years ago, but there was no joy. They have 7 partner airlines in East Asia. They have to coordinate with them.

1. South Korea Korean Air 22 June 2000
2. China China Southern Airlines 15 November 2007
3. China China Eastern Airlines 21 June 2011
4. China Xiamen Airlines 21 November 2012
5. Vietnam Vietnam Airlines 10 June 2010
6. Taiwan China Airlines 28 September 2011
7. Indonesia Garuda Indonesia 5 March 2014
   ...
8. United States Delta Air Lines 22 June 2000
9. Mexico Aeroméxico 22 June 2000
10. Argentina Aerolíneas Argentinas 29 August 2012
11. Kenya Kenya Airways 4 September 2007
12. Saudi Arabia Saudia 29 May 2012
13. Lebanon Middle East Airlines 28 June 2012
    ...
14. France Air France 22 June 2000
15. Netherlands KLM 13 September 2004
16. Czech Republic Czech Airlines 25 March 2001
17. Spain Air Europa 4 September 2007
18. Italy Alitalia 13 January 2009
19. Romania TAROM 25 June 2010
20. Russia Aeroflot 14 April 2006