Fort Worth-based American Airlines won a coveted international route over the weekend.
The U.S. Transportation Department tentatively awarded the airline a route from New York City's John F. Kennedy Airport to Tokyo's downtown Haneda Airport on Friday.
The route is one of four nonstop routes awarded by the government last week. AA said they plan to start service Oct. 1. AA currently has two daily nonstop flights to Tokyo's Narita Airport out of Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Chicago and JFK; additionally, AA has one daily flight out of San Francisco bound for Tokyo.
Also awarded Friday were three additional routes to Haneda, including departures from Los Angeles and Detroit for Delta Airlines and one from Honolulu on Hawaiian Airlines.
The DOT said if the decision to award the routes is finalized, the selected carriers would be required to begin flight operations by Jan. 29, 2011, reported Air Transport World.
Continental, Continental Micronesia and United also applied for the route, but were turned down.
