Alaska Airlines plans nonstop flights between Anchorage and Tokyo starting in May

Alaska Airlines will start flying nonstop between Anchorage and Tokyo's Narita International Airport on May 13, the airline announced Tuesday. The route still needs government approval.

Flights would run daily through early September, then three times a week starting in January 2028, according to the airline's announcement.

The flight leaves Anchorage at 2:10 pm and lands at Narita at 3:25 pm the next day. Coming home, it leaves Narita at 9:45 pm and lands in Anchorage at noon the same day, earlier on the clock than it took off.

Introductory round-trip fares from Anchorage start at $999 for travel between May 13 and June 7, if bought by Saturday, Oct. 31.

The airline will fly a Boeing 737 MAX 8, a single-aisle jet. Alaska says the MAX 8 has a longer range than the MAX 10 it has on order and is the only 737 in its fleet that can make the trip.

The airline called it a "long-requested route." Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in the announcement that the flights put the northern lights and Denali "closer than ever" and should strengthen business ties with Japan.

Japan "kind of dropped off the radar" after Japan Airlines dropped its direct flights and charters from Tokyo to Anchorage, Casey Ressler, who leads the Mat-Su Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the Mat-Su Borough Assembly on Oct. 6. "It's about the same time to get from Anchorage to Chicago as it was to Tokyo," he said. The state no longer has representation in Japan, he added.

Alaska's 2027 summer schedule also adds Saturday-only flights from Anchorage to Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Nashville from June 12 to Aug. 7. The airline says it will be its largest nonstop schedule from Alaska ever, in the year it marks 95 years of service.