HONOLULU – Hawaiian Airlines today announced it will file an application to provide non-stop service between Tokyo International Airport at Haneda and Kona International Airport on Hawai’i Island, utilizing operating slots at the Haneda airport being returned by American Airlines later this year.

Hawai’i’s flagship carrier will file its application with the U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday, proposing daily service using its 294-seat A330 aircraft. Hawaiian Airlines’ 2012 application for non-stop Haneda-Kona service included 175 letters of support from members of the Kona community.

“Our enthusiasm for this service and the benefits it would provide to Hawai’i and to the United States is as strong as it has ever been,” said Mark Dunkerley, president and chief executive officer of Hawaiian Airlines. “Kona is Hawai’i’s second-largest destination market for Japanese visitors, and daily non-stop service from Tokyo would generate a substantial amount of foreign spending that will invigorate the local, state and national economies.”

Hawaiian Airlines has been connecting Hawai’i and Japan since November 2010, when it launched daily service between Haneda and Honolulu. The airline quickly followed with service between Honolulu and Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo and Sendai, and now provides 6,700 seats per week between Japan and the Hawaiian Islands.

Kona has been without a non-stop flight from Japan since October 29, 2010, when Japan Airlines discontinued direct service to West Hawai’i from Narita International Airport.