In January this year, the United States and Japan reached a tentative agreement to provide for up to 12 additional daytime flight slots for US carrier operations at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.
Following this amendment, the carriers American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines and United Airlines applied for a total 19 additional daily frequencies between the United States and Tokyo Haneda International Airport (HND) in February. The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has now tentatively approved requests by several US carriers regarding additional frequencies to Tokyo Haneda.
At the moment, US carriers have access to five daytime Haneda slots and one nighttime/early morning Haneda service.
A final decision from the DOT is expected in the next few weeks. The new services are set to begin with the start of the 2020 summer traffic season and in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
The preliminary decision proposes the following slot allocations:
American Airlines
American Airlines could soon be able to offer two new daily nonstop services from Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Los Angeles (LAX). The carrier announced that a LAX-HND service will complement its existing service. The proposed route between Haneda and Dallas will be operated by Boeing 777-200 aircraft, whereas the proposed service from LAX will be operated by Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The founding member of the Oneworld airline alliance did not receive the approval for its planned Las Vegas-Haneda route that was also included in its application.
Delta Air Lines
The DOT has tentatively granted Delta Air Lines to operate five additional frequencies between the US and Tokyo Haneda Airport.
Delta plans to operate its proposed Seattle-Haneda route with brand new Airbus A330-900neo aircraft, while Airbus A350s will be deployed on the scheduled Detroit-Haneda route. In addition to that, the tentatively approved frequency from Atlanta to Tokyo will be served by Boeing 777-200ER, Portland (PDX)-Haneda will be operated by Airbus A330s. And its proposed Honolulu-Haneda flights are scheduled to be operated by Boeing 767-300ER.
The airline had also applied for another daily nonstop service between Honolulu and Tokyo Haneda. However, the second daily service has not been granted in the preliminary slot allocation.
United Airlines
United will be tentatively awarded four daily nonstop flights from Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (EWR) and Washington (IAD). Its proposed services from Guam and Houston to Tokyo Haneda have not been considered in the current slot distribution.
United announced in its application that its new Los Angeles route will be operated by the new Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner, while all other frequencies will be served by the Boeing 777-200.
Hawaiian Airlines
The Honolulu-based carrier has received one additional daily nonstop flight between Honolulu and Tokyo Haneda. The airline already flies to Tokyo Haneda from both Kona and Honolulu.
Nick Wenzel founded International Flight Network in 2016. He is the Social Media Manager and an Editor for IFN.news.
