US carrier American Airlines will begin service between New York and Tokyo's International Airport at Haneda this week as corporate demand picks up, reported Reuters.

American will start flying from New York's John F. Kennedy airport to Haneda from today, and service from Haneda will begin from February 20.

Jim Carter, vice-president for Eastern division sales at American, said business travel was increasing but had more room to rebound.

"We are seeing a nice improvement in overall demand that's correlating with the economy improving," Carter told Reuters. "No one's doing any high fives yet but we're certainly encouraged by the more recent trend."

The new service to Haneda, which is located 30 minutes from downtown Tokyo, follows the signing of the open skies agreement between the United States and Japan in October, which liberalised the aviation market.

"We do think corporations will probably be most intrigued with this new service," Carter said.

American also said it was looking to expand its network in China.

Cargonews Asia