Delta and United together will take nine of 12 new,
available slots at Tokyo's Haneda airport in a tentative allocation by the U.S.
Department of Transportation. American Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines will share
the rest.
New
daytime slots are opening up at the in-town Tokyo airport as part of a
tentative agreement between the U.S. and Japan, expected to be enacted in time
for the service to begin in summer 2020, in advance of the Summer Olympics in
Tokyo. The city's other airport, Narita, is farther away, and the travel time
to Downtown Tokyo can be as much as two hours longer.
Delta, which already serves Haneda from Los Angeles and
Minneapolis, was awarded the largest share of slots; new service is allocated
from Seattle, Detroit, Atlanta, Honolulu and Portland, Ore. Delta is the only
one of the Big Three U.S. carriers that does not have a joint-venture
partnership with a Japanese airline, and the slots "will better position
Delta to compete with U.S. airlines that previously have been able to offer
better access to Haneda," according to Delta.
United was awarded four slots for service from Newark
Liberty International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Washington
Dulles International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. United
already flies to Haneda from San Francisco.
American Airlines serves Haneda from Los Angeles, and the
DOT's proposal gives it a second slot from Los Angeles, as well as one from
Dallas/Fort Worth. The final slot went to Hawaiian Airlines, which already has
service between Honolulu and Haneda.
The DOT will accept objections through May 30 and will allow
answers to objections through June 10 before making a final decision.