American Airlines will take over Japan Airlines’ existing Chicago O’Hare (ORD) – Tokyo Narita (NRT) service starting in March 2027. This marks the end of a route launched just last year for JAL, while American gets to connect its Chicago hub to Tokyo for the first time since 2020.
American will operate this flight with the following schedule:
- AA153, Chicago O’Hare to Tokyo Narita: 12:45 pm departure, 3:30 pm arrival (+1)
- AA154, Tokyo Narita to Chicago O’Hare: 5:50 pm departure, 3:10 pm arrival
The airline will utilize a Boeing 787-9 with its standard configuration, with 30 Flagship Business, 21 Premium Economy, and 234 Main Cabin seats.
These flights will replace joint business partner Japan Airlines flights JL55 and JL56. JAL’s flights were launched just over a year ago in May 2025 with a Boeing 777-300ER, but the route was downgraded to a Boeing 787-8 earlier this year.
JAL’s current service also departs Tokyo Narita in the morning at 9:45 am. American’s evening departure will better align with connections from Southeast Asia, with destinations such as Bangkok (BKK), Singapore (SIN), Taipei (TPE), and Ho Chi Minh City (SGN).
JAL’s Struggles Operating NRT-ORD
JAL struggled to operate this route. It never achieved the yields it hoped for due to its inconvenient schedule for Asia connections, prompting them to downgrade the route from a Boeing 777-300ER to a Boeing 787-8 less than a year into service.
For context, JAL’s 777-300ERs include 8 First, 49 Business, and 40 Premium Economy seats. This was replaced by a 787-8, with 0 First, 30 Business, and 0 Premium Economy seats.
Specifically regarding the scheduling:
The late-afternoon/evening bank at Tokyo Narita is key to smooth Southeast Asian connectivity. Flights from North America have to both land and depart during those times since that’s when most Southeast Asian connections happen in Narita. In order to achieve this on both flights to and from Chicago, an aircraft has to spend significant time in Chicago.
Since American operates a large hub in Chicago, it has the luxury of being able to send its aircraft over to Europe after it arrives from Tokyo. It also isn’t as big of a deal leaving an aircraft there overnight as it is with JAL. This ability would allow American to serve both the inbound and outbound legs of this Chicago – Narita service during the peak afternoon/evening bank. This is exactly what American does with its existing Dallas (DFW) to Narita route.
JAL can only do this on one leg of the trip. If it chooses to offer convenient connections on the flight to Tokyo, it would have to coordinate a schedule arriving in Narita in the afternoon (kind of how JL55 does right now). However, doing so would mean missing out on the afternoon/evening Narita bank on the flight to Chicago, since the aircraft has to be there in the middle of the day. In order to arrive in Chicago by midday, it has to leave Tokyo Narita in the morning; less than ideal for the Southeast Asian connections it wants to serve.
All of this is very much JAL and American’s joint venture at work. JAL’s route was struggling with an inconvenient schedule, and both airlines decided that the route would be able to operate more smoothly if American took over. And American is able to feed passengers into JAL’s Southeast Asian network once in Tokyo.
American Reinvesting in Chicago O’Hare
Relaunching this route was also an opportunity for American Airlines to market its growing efforts to reinvest in its Chicago hub. CEO Robert Isom joined employees and passengers in a celebration at the airport’s Terminal 3 last Wednesday to celebrate the new nonstop service.
“American is proud to mark a new chapter in travel from Chicago with service to Tokyo,” said Isom. “Built on the strong foundation of our 100-year history in Chicago and an incredible partnership with Japan Airlines, this new service is a testament to our continued commitment to make our hub stronger, broaden choices for customers and keep Chicago competitive on the world stage.
American hopes to capture significant Southeast Asian traffic with its more convenient schedule, while riding on the high demand for travel to Japan.
The airline is also launching new domestic routes from Chicago to Charlottesville, Virginia (CHO) in November and Ontario, California (ONT) in December. A newly designed Admirals Club in Concourse L is also on its way.
Featured image by the author.
