According to Continental, the Nagoya-Honolulu route is underserved. Currently, there is one daily flight on that route operated by Japan Airlines, according to state data.

"We are thrilled that we are having some additional service coming from Japan," said Marsha Wienert, Gov. Linda Lingle's tourism liaison. "This is going to be an excellent addition to our lift coming in from the Japanese marketplace."

There are about 16 flights from Japan to Hawai'i daily, operated by Japan Airlines and Jalways, United Airlines, Northwest Airlines, China Airlines and All Nippon Airways.

Continental Airlines has not flown between Hawai'i and Japan for several years, said Ron Wright, Continental's managing director of sales and marketing in Hawai'i. The carrier does fly within Japan and from Japan to the Mainland and to Guam. The new flight will expand the network to Hawai'i.

The new flight will use a Boeing 767-400 aircraft, which has 200 coach seats and 35 sleeper seats in "BusinessFirst" class.

That means capacity for about 7,050 additional passengers coming to Hawai'i each month.

The additional flight will help the tourism industry here because Nagoya is a good source of vacationing honeymooners, Wright said.

Japan Consul General Masatoshi Muto hopes the flight will also help expand travel by local residents to Japan, as part of an initiative of the Japanese government to grow the tourism industry.

Nagoya is "a vibrant visitor destination with the 2005 Aichi Expo, historical sites, hot springs and new technology," Muto said in a written statement.

The city is in the Chubu region between Tokyo and Kyoto and is considered the third most prominent business center in Japan. Nagoya will host the Aichi World Expo in 2005, a 185-day-long festival that draws travelers from Japan and around the world.

"I think a lot of local people are going to be interested in going to that festival," Wright said.

The daily flight will leave Nagoya at 8 p.m. and arrive in Honolulu the same day at 8 a.m. The return flight will depart Ho-nolulu at 2:15 p.m. each day and arrive at 6:45 p.m. the next day.