The four U.S. carriers that already fly to Tokyo Haneda airport are competing for the rights to two additional
route allotments that will come available as soon as Oct. 30.
Between them, American, Delta,
Hawaiian and United applied for five new routes on April 21, the deadline to
submit applications to the DOT.
American, which currently flies to
Haneda from Los Angeles, also applied to fly to the airport from its
Dallas/Fort Worth hub. Delta, which also operates a daily flight from LAX to
Haneda, applied for additional allotments from its hubs in Atlanta and
Minneapolis/St. Paul.
Hawaiian applied to augment its existing daily
Honolulu-Haneda service with a second flight along that route four times per week and new flights from Kona on the Big Island to Haneda on the other
three days. United is asking the DOT to grant it an allocation to fly from
Newark to Haneda, augmenting the carrier’s existing San Francisco-Haneda
service.
The move by the carriers to gain
more access to Tokyo’s largest and most convenient airport came after the U.S
and Japan reached agreement in February that will increase the daily
U.S.-Haneda departures and arrivals from four to six. The deal also allows for five
of those six arrival/departure pairs to be during the day. Previously, U.S.
carriers could only schedule night service to and from Haneda.