The uncontested and now approved application by United Airlines to open a Haneda route is a signal that more tourists from Japan want to visit Guam. According to an email this weekend from United’s managing director Dan Weiss to Guam Visitors Bureau president and CEO Carl Gutierrez, the airline was allocated the Tokyo Haneda “nighttime-only” route that Hawaiian Airlines gave up.
United applied for the route last year. Airline applications for routes normally indicate market data from that route location source that enough people are willing to travel the route to make the air transportation profitable. Japan for the past decade has been Guam’s secondary tourist market. Prior to that and to the infancy of Guam’s tourism industry in the 1960s, Japan was Guam’s biggest source of tourists and largest economic driver.
During the pandemic, Mr. Gutierrez set out – against the criticism of some in the tourism industry – to increase Guam’s image in Japan. The effort appears to be paying off.
“Today, [U.S. Department of Transportation] formally/officially allocated the slot pair to United to launch Guam’s new nonstop service to/from Haneda,” Mr. Weiss wrote to Mr. Gutierrez.
The company will be marketing the route, according to the email.
The chairman of the Tokyo International Air Terminal Corporation, Katsuji Doi, gave Mr. Gutierrez the all clear from Japan’s side of the route.
“I love Guam and when your government sends us the okay, i will approve right away,” Mr. Gutierrez attributed to Mr. Doi Saturday.
United is praising Mr. Gutierrez’s personal push of the expansion of the Japan tourist market to Guam in the face of doubts.
“We are so grateful for your strong support and partnership for Guam-Japan market and very much look forward to working closely with you,” United’s Japan director Kenichi Kiriyama wrote in an email to Mr. Gutierrez. “Thank you, Carl. We sincerely thank you for your support, quick actions, and most of all, partnership! We are so fortunate to have you as a leader on Guam. Your support on solving early Guam arrival challenge is much appreciated.”
