San Jose to Tokyo flights to board soon

After a four-year courtship with All Nippon Airways, Mineta San Jose International Airport once again will have nonstop, regular service to Tokyo.

Expected to start next year, the flights offer the Silicon Valley airport a dose of optimism after losing carriers and millions of passenger trips and dollars in recent years.

“It means a lot of jobs and a lot of revenue for the airport,” Mayor Chuck Reed said Wednesday after the Japanese airline announced the new flights in Tokyo. Reed had flown to Japan in February — from San Francisco — for a sales pitch to ANA President and CEO Shinchiro Ito offering financial incentives to close the deal.

“We are confident that passenger demand to fly to San Jose will be high, not only in Japan but other Asian cities,” Ito said at a Tokyo news conference.

Japan’s second-largest carrier, All Nippon, has not set a schedule, said Bill Sherry, director of aviation at Mineta International. But he expects daily service from the start.

All Nippon also will start nonstop flights to Seattle at the same time. The two West Coast cities will be the first in the United States to welcome the airline’s new Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The long-awaited plane uses 20 percent less fuel than similar-size aircraft, making the midsize airliner a better fit for smaller airports such as Mineta wishing to tap faraway markets served mostly by jumbo jets.