Overview
- United Airlines, which announced the plans Thursday, will start daily Chicago O’Hare–Tokyo Narita flights on October 24, 2026, using a Boeing 787-8 and pending government approval.
- Seasonal San Francisco–Sapporo service begins December 11, 2026, with three weekly Boeing 787-9 flights, marking the first nonstop link between the continental U.S. and Sapporo.
- Narita serves as a better connecting hub than Haneda for onward trips across Asia, giving Chicago travelers one-stop access to cities such as Cebu, Guam, Palau, Saipan, Kaohsiung, Ulaanbaatar and ANA’s network to Southeast Asia.
- United says it carried more than 1.8 million passengers between the U.S. and Japan in 2025 and plans up to 13 daily flights this winter to Japanese airports including Narita, Haneda, Osaka and Sapporo.
- Air Canada will add a Vancouver–Sapporo route days after United’s start, which could test demand on Hokkaido services while giving skiers and winter travelers more nonstop options.