Delta suspends flights to Tokyo's Haneda airport

By Kelly Yamanouchi

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Amid a decline in travel to Japan due to the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis there, Delta Air Lines said it will temporarily suspend its new flights to Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

However, Delta will continue flights to its hub at Tokyo's Narita Airport.

Delta's Los Angeles-Haneda flights will be suspended starting March 23 and its Detroit-Haneda flights will be suspended starting March 24. Travelers with tickets on those flights will be rebooked on flights to Narita, where Delta continues to operate its full schedule, or they can get refunds, the airline said. Delta had started flying to Haneda, a centrally-located Tokyo airport popular with business travelers, last month.

Delta said it can reinstate service to Haneda if extra Japan flights are needed, but otherwise it plans to restart service to Haneda later this spring.

The airline is also allowing travelers with bookings for flights to Japan this month to change their itineraries without paying certain change fees, and is allowing refunds for certain customers.

Other airlines such as German carrier Lufthansa are rerouting Tokyo flights to other cities. The State Department said it is bringing chartered aircraft into Tokyo for U.S. government officials and other American citizens who want to leave but cannot get reservations on commercial flights.