Kansai-Guam flights resume after 2-year-4-month hiatus

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:48 JST, July 2, 2022

U.S.-based United Airlines has resumed flight services between Japan and Guam, with the first flight in about two years and four months departing from Kansai Airport on Friday.

The flight route had been suspended due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. For the time being, the airline will operate three round-trip flights a week.

In March 2020, before the suspension of services, the airline had operated 14 flights a week between Japan and Guam. The airline decided to resume flight services because of the Japanese government’s relaxation of restrictions on entry for foreigners, and the airline expects that demand for summer recreational activities will rise.

On Friday, 25 passengers in front of the boarding gate at Terminal 1 of the airport were given commemorative gifts.

A 40-year-old housewife from Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, who boarded the plane with her three family members, said, “To celebrate my daughter’s getting a job, we decided [to travel to Guam] as we can only go now. We want to relax while also taking measures against infection.”