Hawaiian Airlines is flying the first of four nonstop charter flights Saturday between Sendai, Japan, and Honolulu in collaboration with the Japan Travel Bureau.

The airline said Saturday’s flight on its 262-seat Boeing 767-300ER is booked to 95 percent capacity. The other flights will depart from Sendai Airport on Thursday, July 31 and Aug. 5.

“We are so pleased to be working with JTB to bring travelers to Hawaii from a region that was so completely devastated only 16 months ago, and we look forward to welcoming these visitors to the islands with our special brand of service,” Hawaiian President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said today.

Sendai, 180 miles north of Tokyo on the Pacific Coast of Honshu Island, is the capital city of Miyagi Prefecture and the largest city of the Tohoku Region, with a population of approximately 1 million residents. The Sendai region was at the center of destruction caused by the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011.