Hawaiian Airlines has been given approval from the US Department of Transportation to operate night-time flights from Honolulu and Kona to Tokyo Haneda.

The airline has until January 29, 2017 to begin the service.

“This is tremendous news for Hawaiian Airlines, for our employees, our customers and for the economies of Kona and our entire state,” said Mark Dunkerley, president and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines. “Flights between Hawaii and Japan are the most travelled and most beneficial to the US economy, so being able to expand the number that we can offer to Tokyo’s Haneda airport is especially important. We have estimated that the Kona portion alone will generate US$35 million in visitor spending and US$12.5 million in wages and benefits.”

The Japanese and US authorities agreed in February 2016 to give the two countries five daytime slot pairs and one evening slot pair each at Haneda Airport, as opposed to the current four evening slot pairs each country has.

Hawaiian was the only airline to apply for the daily evening slot pair, with service to and from Honolulu four times a week and to and from Kona three times a week.

The DOT has yet to decide how to allocate the remaining five daytime slot pairs. American Airlines has applied to operate a flight from Dallas and another from Los Angeles, Delta Air Lines has applied to operate a flight from Atlanta, one from Los Angeles and one from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Hawaiian has applied to fly from Honolulu, and United Airlines has applied to fly from Newark and San Francisco.