Japan Airlines started a Kona-Tokyo flight in 1996. The suspension of this route from 2010 to September 2017 left the island with only one scheduled international flight (to Vancouver) for a time. Hawaiian Airlines filed an application with the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) for nonstop flights from Kona to Tokyo's Haneda Airport restoring the link between the two cities after Japan Airlines ended flights to Narita Airport in 2010. The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) rejected the airline's application despite support from residents of west Hawaii. On October 23, 2013, Hawaiian Airlines announced that they would re-apply to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) for nonstop Kona-Haneda flights a year after the airline was rejected to fly that route in favor of Delta's Seattle to Haneda nonstop. On July 8, 2016, Hawaiian Airlines announced that they would begin nonstop Kona-Haneda flights on December 20, 2016 after the US Department of Transportation awarded Hawaiian Airlines the route in May. JAL's resumption of daily Tokyo service in 2017 generated 900 jobs and $8.58 million in tax revenue on the Big Island during its first year, according to the Hawaiian Tourism Authority.