American Brings Back Chicago–Tokyo Narita, Daily on the 787-9

American will fly Chicago O'Hare to Tokyo Narita again starting March 27, 2027, the airline said this week: daily, year-round, on a 787-9 with 30 business class and 21 premium economy seats. The timing is built around Japan Airlines' bank at Narita, so the two carriers' joint venture can sell one-stop trips from Chicago to Bangkok, Singapore, Taipei, and Ho Chi Minh City.

American flew this route for more than twenty years, then cut it in January 2020 — weeks before COVID, not because of it. That cut ended the airline's Asia flying from Chicago entirely. Since then, Tokyo on American has meant Dallas (both airports), plus Haneda from Los Angeles and New York. Japan Airlines has carried Chicago alone.

Here's the sequence I can't get past. January 2020: American cuts Chicago–Tokyo. February 2020: American announces Seattle as its new trans-Pacific gateway. Bangalore and Shanghai from Seattle never fly. Seattle–London launches in 2021 and is axed two years later. Hong Kong: gone entirely. The strategy settles into "fly to partner hubs, let the joint ventures do the rest." And now American is back at O'Hare — because United is winning Chicago and just announced its own Narita flight for late October, with a line about being the only US carrier on the route. That exclusivity expires in March.

I've flown more than a million miles on American and oneworld, and I want this to be the start of something. But look at the last six years: Chicago, then Seattle, then "let JAL fly it," now Chicago again. That's not a network strategy. That's an airline that doesn't know who it is, re-learning its own hubs on a loop.

For travelers, the take is simpler. The Midwest gets a oneworld nonstop to Tokyo on American metal again — fresh space for AAdvantage awards and systemwide upgrades. By next spring, Chicago will have at least six daily Tokyo flights across four carriers. And if the schedule gives you a choice, JAL flies both Tokyo airports from O'Hare every day, with a better product in every cabin. Take JAL.