I would venture to say that NRT-JFK is also one of the most profitable international routes in the world with a very high-ratio of premium class passengers. One of the reasons why UA keep flying their old 744OPs with 36F seats and over 120C seats must be that they manage to get those seats full with revenue passengers particularly on weekends. After all, come this sping, DL will be flying non-stop JFK-NRT and AA will be joining this route in 2002. Can you think of any other international routes where all top 5 US carriers will compete? I am also told that JFK-NRT runs generate tons of cargo revenues as well.