After reducing the use of Boeing 777 aircraft between Guam and Tokyo-Narita earlier this year, United Airlines is bringing back the heavies on the route this October.

The larger Boeing 777-200 will be brought back to the Guam-Tokyo route on October 28 until March 30, 2019, and will be used on the morning and evening flights currently using smaller Boeing 737 aircraft. The decision was made after seeing a rise in business and leisure travel to the island.

"Guam and Tokyo are important cities for United Airlines and we remain committed to supporting our customers and employees in these regions," said Patrick Quayle, United vice president of its international network. "In the last few months, we have noticed the market begin to recover and, in response, we made the decision to resume widebody service between Guam and Tokyo to meet this rising demand."

Sam Shinohara, United managing director of Asia/Pacific Airport Operations, said: "We are pleased to welcome back the B777s to the Guam-Tokyo route. This is a direct reflection of the increase in demand for travel to Guam and our valuable relationships with many business partners such as the Guam Visitors Bureau and major travel agency partners in Japan. The more than 60,000 additional seats not only helps meet the inbound demand from Japan, but also offers our Guam customers with more options when traveling to Tokyo, the mainland U.S. and beyond."

In addition to the return of Boeing 777 between Guam and Tokyo, United will also increase flights in August from Guam to both Tokyo and Nagoya.

United's upgrade of the Tokyo flights and additional flights come as good news to Guam's tourism industry, as United previously decreased the number of flights and seats between Guam and Japan earlier this year. It also comes almost a year after Delta ended its connection between Japan and Guam and the other nearby islands of Saipan and Palau.

While the Guam hub has seen a decline from tourist arrivals from Japan over the past few years, it is still an important market United serves. In addition to Tokyo-Narita, United has flights from Guam to Japanese cities such as Fukuoka, Nagoya, and Osaka.

Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.