Delta Abandons Nonstop Portland-Tokyo Route Amid Travel Slowdown, Delays Seoul Flights

Delta Air Lines has abandoned its plan for daily nonstop flights between Portland and Tokyo’s Haneda airport, a route announced before the COVID-19 pandemic but never launched.

Officials with the Port of Portland, which operates Portland International Airport, say they’re focused on securing the launch of a previously announced Delta flight to Incheon, South Korea, serving the capital city Seoul. That service was announced in 2021 and originally scheduled to begin later that year. Now it’s delayed indefinitely, Delta said.

That leaves Portland with no direct flights to and from Asia, though the Tokyo route is up for grabs if another airline wants to make a run at it.

“We are committed to the Portland market and continue to offer service from Asia to Portland via Delta’s hub” at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Delta said in a statement.

Delta, which for years operated flights between Portland and Narita International Airport, won the rights to a federally allocated “slot” at the more centrally located Haneda airport with a pitch to operate flights from Portland. That route was more desirable because it saves travelers a long trip into the city.

The flight never started operating as the pandemic sapped demand. Delta won waivers to delay the flight, as well as Haneda flights from other U.S. cities.

It slowly resumed Haneda service from many of those cities as travel rebounded.

Delta was mostly silent, however, on its plans for the Portland flight. Facing a November deadline to resume service, it had listed flights to Haneda beginning Nov. 1 with a ticket price of more than $10,000, a placeholder while flights with layovers were available for less than $2,000.

Delta finally confirmed in a filing last week said it would formally abandon the route, saying “commercial and operational considerations” factored into the decision.

The airline chose Portland for its route because of key business links between Oregon and Japanese companies.

But corporate travel has remained depressed as businesses grew accustomed to operating remotely. And travel volume at PDX remains lower than at peer airports.

Port officials said the slump in travel demand to and from Asia has proven particularly persistent.

“The decrease in demand that we’ve seen due to the pandemic hasn’t rebounded for the Asia market, like it has for Europe, but we’re looking ahead,” said Dan Pippenger, the Port of Portland’s chief aviation officer. “We’re committed to bringing nonstop service from PDX to Asia back for the local business community and international travelers.”

Delta sought permission earlier this year to reassign Portland’s Haneda route to another U.S. airport. The U.S. Department of Transportation denied the request, leaving Delta with the option of operating the flight or giving it up.

— Elliot Njus; [email protected]

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