Every so often, airlines tease upcoming routes by dropping hints about them. American Airlines did this earlier this week, when it showed a blurred photo on X. Some commentators, such as Ishrion Aviation, showed that the photo was of the Osaka Garden in Chicago. The route could have been Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) to Osaka Kansai International Airport (KIX), or it could simply have referred to Japan generally.
The answer came shortly thereafter, as American announced that it’ll reintroduce service from ORD to Tokyo Narita after a seven-year absence. It is currently unclear whether it’ll operate alongside joint venture partner Japan Airlines (JAL) on the airport pair or replace the carrier. Not coincidentally, United Airlines confirmed that it’ll resume ORD-NRT service in October 2026. The route is a relatively low-risk option for American, especially compared to KIX.
The oneworld member is a reasonably sized operator from the US to Japan. With just over one million seats for sale in 2026, the airline’s schedule submission to OAG indicates that it is the fifth-largest carrier. It is eclipsed by United Airlines, Japan Airlines, All Nippon, and Delta Air Lines. Nonetheless, American’s capacity is at the highest level since 2006. There is momentum.
So far this year, American has operated from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND) and NRT, along with Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to HND. Now ORD to NRT is coming back.
While only airports serving Japan’s capital now see American, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that the airline flew between DFW and KIX until 2001 and again between 2005 and 2006. But the overall load factor was just 75.1%.
More significantly for this article, ORD-KIX had nonstop flights in the past. For example, JAL operated until 2001, while United pulled out in 2007. The DOT shows that JAL only filled 51.8% (!) of KIX seats, while United’s load factor was 74.3%.
KIX Is Not Among ORD’s Top Ten Unserved Asian Markets
Booking data shows that ORD had 1.8 million passengers who flew to/from Asia in the 12 months April 2026. Around 4,900 people did so daily. Approximately three-quarters of the passengers connected to another flight on the way. The most popular country markets were India, Japan, China (no nonstop passenger flights from ORD), the Philippines (Philippine Airlines resumes flights in November 2026), and South Korea.
The following table shows ORD’s top ten unserved Asian markets. Manila would rank first, but it is not mentioned as nonstop service will be back again this year. The figures are for local or point-to-point traffic only. This means they only flew to/from ORD, regardless of where they stopped en route.
With 27,000 round-trip passengers, Osaka is not stated below. It ranked 12th, behind Karachi (29,000). While the local traffic would grow from nonstop flights, 27,000 is a relatively low figure to start with, although other new routes have launched with a much lower foundation.
Compared to those in the top ten, factors in Osaka’s favor are that it was the shortest of them (and thus the least expensive to serve) while also having the highest average fare (from more premium demand). Nonetheless, ORD-NRT was obviously a larger market than KIX, and had an even higher fare. But that airport pair will now have four airlines flying nonstop, although really there’s three, as American and JAL operate on a metal-netural basis. And then there’s ORD-HND.
ORD Round-Trip Passengers: May 2025-April 2026
They’re operated by eight airlines, with some surprising entries. See them all here!
It Would Have Been American’s Longest Route From ORD
Had American announced ORD-KIX, the route would have a maximum block time of roughly 13-and-a-half to 14 hours. As such, it would have become the airline’s new longest nonstop service from the carrier’s Illinois hub. It would have surpassed what was currently first, Athens back to ORD, which is timed up to 11 hours and 50 minutes.
The resumption of ORD-NRT flights in March next year means this market will now become number one. However, it will not be American’s longest ever nonstop operation from the hub. Until 2012, the carrier flew to/from Delhi, whose maximum block was nearly 15 hours (and that was when it could fly through Russian airspace). Other routes were also longer than NRT, including Beijing and Shanghai, both of which ended in 2018.
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