Reader comments
Delta begins nonstop flights between Tokyo, Salt Lake

9 Hours?!! That is freaking awesome! When I flew to Taiwan for my mission i stook almost a whole day to get there, because we had a layover in Cali, a layover in Japan, then finally got to Taipei. On the way back we saved hours by not stopping Japan, but it was still like 14 hrs. 9 hrs is not that bad, in fact its pretty quick if you fly over night, you can just sleep the whole way. Hope to see non stop to Taipei soon!

Cares..........

What a joke. How many of these passengers are destined for Utah? Delta needs to fly passengers to larger hubs, where maybe a few might be going, rather then spending additional money to fly all these passengers on to another city. Not too cost effective, especially with all Delta's costs so high.

Why do you think all the airlines fly their passengers to LA or SF? It is because that is where the passengers are going. Not too many Tokyo passengers will be using SLC as a stop over with all the non-stops to California, Chicago or East Coast cities.

Delta should drop the International services out of SLC, as SLC is ONLY a large regional airport, not a real international airport. With cities like Denver, Phoenix and Las Vegas so close, international traffic will go to those cities before it comes to SLC.

Delta, you can make SLC a hub all you want, but you cannot force people to make a stupid decision of selecting a one stop flight over a non-stop to their intended destination.

Keep your TKO-ATL flights, but get rid of SLC as a international hub. Your losing revenue on SLC connections.

The flight does not take 9 hours. The official flight time from SLC to Tokyo is 11 hours 50 minutes. From Tokyo to SLC the official flight time is 10 hours 50 minutes.

You will not see a nonstop to Taipei. No U.S. airline has a hub in Taipei. The next most logical non stop flight from SLC to an Asia city would be to Hong Kong. However, that may not be an option because the flight distance may be too far without a refueling stop.

When the Japanese discover that we have the best skiing and five awesome national parks, they will fly to Utah and have a great time.

Who cares if Delta flies internationally to and from SLC? If they can't make money at it, then they will stop, plain and simple. And how exactly do you know that no one wants to fly into or through SLC? Three of Delta's international destinations to and from SLC are Mexico City, Paris and now Tokyo, all of which benefit the business travelers that work for my company as we travel frequently to these cities.

The A330-200 is a 300 passenger airplane. With only 143 onboard, this flight won't last long.

There is actually quite a bit of traffic between Utah and Japan. There is much more business going on in Asia then Paris. This route will make Delta more money then the SLC/Paris route. Delta could have all of economy empty and if the Business Class section is full it will make money. I intend on using the flight from now on. Was a loyal United flyer but will happily change my flight to Delta if it means a non-stop.

hey sue get a clue

What most of the nay-sayers here do not realize is that this flight will only carry a small amount of Tokyo-SLC local passengers. Northwest, having it's Asian hub in Tokyo, collects passengers from not only the Tokyo region, but from all over Asia, which will connect thru SLC, Delta's Western Hub, to numerous points throughout the US, Canada and Mexico. This flight dovetails with other flights at either end of the route, dispersing traffic from both ends. It will do well.

So is this a true non-stop flight or do you still have to stop in SFO and go through customs? I was excited when I started seeing non-stop from JPN to SLC, but then I noticed the fine print that said there was actually a stop in SFO, but the flight number from JPN to SFO and SFO to SLC was the same.

If this is a true non-stop flight I would be interested to hear how the customs clearance went as I didn't think that SLC was setup for that.

This is a true non-stop. SLC Int'l has been set up to handle customs for over a decade, but has only been used for irregular charter flights since no regular international flights were flying into SLC, yet.

Delta bringing this flight into SLC is really smart!!!! As stated above, this will put passengers from Japan into SLC in which these people will connect on other flights accross the US. Had they brought the flight into SFO or LAX Delta would get less passengers on Delta flights losing them to other airlines. I think you will see more and more flights into SLC that will connect with other flights out of SLC accross the country. I think Delta had some great vision with this. Sue, you lack vision.

I really love Denver and all, but the thought of seeing people taking a connecting Delta flight from there to get to Tokyo cracks me up, lol.

Tell me how many chose a connection flight over a non-stop? NONE. If passengers have a choice of MANY non-stops from Tokyo to all over the country, they will take it over a connection, any day. And to the RE: Sue, I hope your company has at least 40 company people taking this flight DAILY. Remember this plane requires daily passengers of 250+ to be profitable. Every company has business travelers, but not in and through SLC. It just is not a business hub for a large plane. If it was a 50 seat regional jet, maybe so, but it isn't. Airlines don't make money moving passengers on connections. They make money on Non-Stops.

Now with direct flight my grand-daughter who resides in tokyo can now have her parents put her on the plane and I will greet her in SLC. Will get to see her several times a year instead of just once. Wonder how many other situations like mine there are. We won't exactly keep the planes full but we'll help.

So many "experts"!

This is great move for Delta. I would be flying to China and have a short stop over Tokyo next year.

Used to fly United, but now love Delta. Not having to deal with connecting flights or customs in Cali? Priceless. I hope these flights last for a long time to come.
Yatta ne!

My company does have travelers regularly going to Tokyo, and Korea, and China, and Europe, and Mexico, and South America, etc. Probably not 40+ to NRT per day but you missed my point: We're one of thousands of companies in Utah, many of which are part of a global business structure like we are. I was simply giving an example of why it could work. If it doesn't, it doesn't. But who are you and what is your expertise to say it won't even before it really gets started? What do you know that the Delta execs who do it for a living don't? Get over yourself already.

P.S. It's not a daily flight and probably won't be for a while.