Originally Posted by
motytrah
There's been a prevailing opinion in this forum that the sun is setting on Japanese business and that NRT is on right sizing down to actual needed O/D. Out of curiosity I looked up the numbers and I was kind of surprised to see they are back to total passenger operations are back to pre-bank crisis levels. Some of the best numbers ever for NRT despite DL pairing back some of the interport routes the last 5 years or so. It feels like there's still a lot of money on the table in USA/TYO routes.
The aggregate figures for inbound Japan tourism are at historical highs -- nearly 20 million visited in 2015, thanks to the same low Yen that DL and UA keep complaining about. Most visitors come from elsewhere in Asia, but the numbers of Westerners, including Americans, is continuing to grow.
Any reductions DL makes to its Japan flights will assuredly be made up elsewhere, and I don't think anyone here will miss DL in particular.