Hawaiian Airlines is seeking to more than double its daily service between Haneda International Airport in Tokyo and Hawaii.

The state’s largest carrier applied Thursday with the U.S. Department of Transportation for three of 12 available Haneda slots and, if selected, plans to begin service on March 29, 2020. In its filing, Hawaiian called the potential availability of the 12 daytime Haneda slots “a once-in-a- generation opportunity.”

Hawaiian said in its proposal the annual impact that the three flights will have on the U.S. economy will be 85,200 new visitors, $218.8 million in sales, $67.6 million in earnings and 2,121 U.S. jobs. Japan is Hawaii’s top international visitor market. Hawaiian plans to use its 278-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft on the flights.

The airline, which initiated Haneda-Honolulu service in November 2010, added a second daily Haneda flight in December 2016 with service four days a week to Honolulu and three days a week to Kona.

Haneda is a preferred destination — yet generally more expensive — for many travelers than Narita International Airport, which is about 40 miles from the center of Tokyo. Hawaiian began daily nonstop service to Narita in July 2016.

Hawaiian also offers daily nonstop service to Osaka and flights three times a week to Sapporo.

In total, Hawaiian currently has 21 weekly nonstop flights between Tokyo and Honolulu and 31 flights a week between Japan and Hawaii.

“Hawaiian was the first U.S. carrier to launch service to Haneda in 2010 and its level of performance and commitment to serving this market has been unmatched by its competitors,” Hawaiian said in its application. “Indeed, Hawaiian’s success in the Hawaii-Japan market has been instrumental to Hawaiian’s growth, expanding service and increasing international revenues.”

The airline said when it entered the the U.S.-Japan market in 2010 and became the first U.S. carrier to launch Haneda service, its international revenue was about 10 percent of its passenger revenue. In 2018 Hawaiian said its revenue on international routes grew to about 26 percent of passenger revenue.

Other airlines competing for the 12 coveted slots are United Continental and Delta Airlines, both of which want six slots, and American Airlines, which seeks four slots. The last time Haneda slots were awarded was in 2016 when Hawaiian landed one of six available.

”While Hawaiian’s prior Haneda applications have been focused on the local market, (this) … proceeding represents an opportunity for Hawaiian to serve passengers at previously unreachable points beyond Tokyo,” Hawaiian said. “With additional and earlier daytime authority being available and its new code-share relationship with Japan Airlines, Hawaiian expects connecting traffic to points behind and beyond Tokyo, primarily to cities in domestic Japan, to grow significantly, increasing the quantity and quality of service options as well as needed competition.”