United ends Tokyo – Seoul route in Oct 2017
 

Per the link on airlineroute.net:

http://www.routesonline.com/news/38/...e-in-oct-2017/

I would have thought they would wait until after the Olympic and Paralympics in PyeongChang before cutting capacity to Seoul if UNITED can't fill seats to South Korea. Would think there would be lots of people traveling in preparation of the Games, especially in the months prior and then during them.

Maybe they just want to let NH handle that short segment and rellocate the equipment to a more appropriate route.

There's a big difference between filling seats and making a profit.

WHAT.

This is a regular route for me. I'm sure it's going to be handed over to OZ (I rarely if ever see NH codeshares) but that's going to make the price even higher.

All the past flights I can remember have been full. This makes no sense to me.

Edit: I also find it interesting they're ending it right around the same time they're switching out the 747 on the SFO-ICN route. Coincidence?

3 of the GUM based 737s will return to the mainland with NRT-ICN being cut.

I believe ~ Oct 28 is typically the end of a schedule/season for airlines.

I was hoping today was still April 1st. Very sad news for me. Happy hour is just a few hours away though. :(

Company states the 3 737s returning to the mainland will be better utilized here as well as expanding service.

There's a big difference between filling seats and making a profit.

I understand that. I think the flight was mainly used for passengers connecting from NRT-ICN and vice versa, as the flight was timed as such that they ferry people in for the outbound and take people back for the inbound. If you try to buy just the roundtrip NRT-ICN it's much more expensive than a comparable flight on OZ.

Either way this is a huge blow for me. Throwing an OZ flight into the mix *usually* has increased the price significantly.

Is this the only route? They're using 3 737's for one route? Doesn't make sense to use that many, as they usually overnight the 737 in ICN and it only makes one daily trip.

Well that's the last of the NRT-Asia routes. SAD.

TBH, the 737-800 could be used for domestic flight, may have better profit than NRT-ICN

Presumably the aircraft flies a GUM-NRT-ICN-NRT-GUM routing, and the awkward timings mean utilisation is poor

I agree with everyone's sentiment, I'd rather connect in NRT than SFO to get to ICN. Too bad the 738 sits in ICN overnight for ~16 hours.

Can NRT really be called a 'hub' at this rate? It has only one non-hub destination (HNL) and services less flights than LHR.