https://simpleflying.com/delta-air-l...-haneda-route/
I repeat: DL didn't want to operate PDX-TYO any longer,
even though they had at one point (as DL and NW) and thus had some pretty good data on what the market can support.
But hey, we're all VPs of Network Planning here at FT.
If you want to know the truth... I think a lot of the international markets AS will be wandering into will be tough sledding. Despite the happy noises emanating from AS HQ meant to sooth investors. Many of them are highly competitive (SEA-TYO/ICN will have FOUR airlines, more than SFO, which is a larger market, and frankly AS is the weak sister compared to KE, JL, NH, DL and UA, comparable to OZ... which is in bankruptcy proceedings and about to be absorbed by KE). For a good while the J product AS offers will be very "meh" compared to everyone else (AS will be flying a J product without guaranteed aisle access, unlike everyone else), and AS won't have PE for a good while). LHR and CDG are similar.
It would not at all shock me to see AS turn tail in international markets just like they turned tail in SFO on a lot of what they tried when UA squashed those attempts like a bug. I think they'll figure some things out as they go... but it doesn't seem obvious to me that they're going to hit home runs all the time any more than they did when they flew LAX-JFK/PHL or SFO-DAL.
(I wonder if AS could make some of Europe work seasonally and then just fly A330s to Mexico/Hawaii in the winter, for instance. Shoot, DL doesn't fly SEA-LHR in late fall through spring...)
As such I think they're going to want to build up SEA quite a lot successfully before going to PDX.