Four in line for Haneda prize

One of the big prizes in US aviation is set to be handed out this autumn with the announcement on Wednesday that Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and United have won tentative approval to launch daytime flights serving Tokyo Haneda Airport.

Haneda is closer to Tokyo than Narita International but trade agreements between the US and Japan meant US carriers were allowed to serve it only at night. The agreements were renegotiated in February. US airlines had long argued that business travellers in particular preferred to arrive at or leave from airports during daylight hours.

Subject to a 90-day public-comment period, the new agreement will allow Delta flights from Los Angeles and Minneapolis, Hawaiian from Honolulu, American from Los Angeles, and United from San Francisco. All these points except Minneapolis already had night flights to Haneda.

The US Department of Transportation (DoT) turned down bids by American Airlines to serve Haneda from Dallas, United from Newark and Delta from Atlanta. American said it was disappointed by this decision and was “considering all options”.

The DoT also said if Delta scaled back its Minneapolis flight plans, its authority would be cancelled and the flight handed to American in Dallas.

www.transportation.gov   www.aa.com   www.delta.com  

www.hawaiianairlines.com   www.united.com

Index/Home page
 

OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum