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In February, I wrote about how US airlines would have 12 additional daytime landing slots at Haneda Airport in Tokyo. This has been done through negotiations between the United States and Japan, which should be available by the summer of 2020, in time for the Olympics.
In total, American, Delta, United, and Hawaiian have asked for 19 additional Haneda frequencies, although there are only 12 available. So, since there were more applications than slots available, the DOT had to go through a process to decide on their allocation.
Well, the DOT has now made its interim decision and has allocated 12 day slots to US airlines.
As I have explained in the past, the DOT makes its decisions based on what it thinks is maximizing the benefits to consumers and taking into account the order in which airlines prioritize these requests (the table below illustrates the order in which the airlines prioritized these requests). requests).
First, US airlines currently operate six daily flights to Tokyo Haneda:
- American flies from Los Angeles
- Delta flies from Los Angeles and Minneapolis
- United s flight from San Francisco
- Hawaiian flies from Honolulu and Kona
So how did the US airlines respond to their requests?
Delta has awarded five of six Haneda slot machines
We can say that Delta is the biggest winner here. Delta has requested a total of six seats at Haneda and the following five have been awarded:
- 1x daily flight from Atlanta to Haneda with 777-200
- 1x daily flight from Detroit to Haneda with A350-900
- 1x daily flight from Honolulu to Haneda using the 767-300
- 1x daily flight from Portland to Haneda with A330-200
- 1x daily flight from Seattle to Haneda with A330-900neo
They were not assigned the following location:
- 1x daily flight from Honolulu to Haneda using the 767-300
Given the number of airlines connecting Honolulu to Tokyo, I think it is not surprising that they were denied for the additional Honolulu-Haneda slot.
United has four seats out of six at Haneda
United has requested a total of six places for Haneda and the following four have been awarded:
- 1x daily flight between Chicago and Haneda with 777-200
- 1x daily flight from Los Angeles to Haneda using 787-10
- 1x daily flight Newark to Haneda with 777-200
- 1x daily Washington Dulles flight to Haneda with 777-200
They did not benefit from the following slots:
- 1x daily flight between Guam and Haneda with 777-200
- 1x Houston-Haneda daily flight with 777-200
Here is the explanation of the DOT explaining why they did not grant the Guam slot to Haneda:
United's proposal in Guam would require the assignment of a rare pair of Haneda slot machines for short-haul flights in a leisure-oriented market. While the Department is aware of the benefits passengers could gain from access to Haneda's downtown airport, the large Guam-Tokyo market is already well served in Narita, and the Department tentatively estimates in this country would not represent the best use possible Haneda opportunity.
And here is their explanation of why they do not give the Houston to Haneda slot:
The ministry recognizes that United's proposal in Houston would provide connections to Haneda from 32 US airports and provide consumers in the southern United States with another US-Haneda gateway than those proposed by American and Delta. The department notes, however, provisionally that many cities with proposed connections to Houston's United hub, including some in the southern United States, would benefit from a one-stop service on other gateways offered by United in this instance and some cases with less traffic than on connections over Houston. Given the potential benefits of the other proposals that the Department tentatively chooses here, and considering that the carrier has selected the proposed service as part of its lowest priority, the Department has tentatively decided not to allocate any allocation to United of Houston. Haneda's proposal.
American tuned two of the four Haneda slot machines
American has requested a total of four slots for Haneda and the following two have been awarded:
- 1x daily flights from Dallas to Haneda with 777-200ER
- 1x daily flight from Los Angeles to Haneda with 787-8
They did not benefit from the following slots:
- 1x daily flights from Dallas to Haneda with 777-200ER
- 1x daily flight between Las Vegas and Haneda with 787-8
The fact that DOT does not give Dallas the second daily niche in Haneda makes sense, because the demand is not large enough to justify it. But what about the Las Vegas slot at Haneda?
The ministry recognizes that Las Vegas is the fifth largest US market in Tokyo on the continent. However, American offers to only offer connections to five US points above Las Vegas, four of which are tentatively selected in this proceeding for the non-stop service of the US company Haneda 14. Given the potential benefits of the other proposals that the Department tentatively chooses here and the fact that the carrier has chosen the proposed service as a low priority priority, the Department has tentatively decided not to award the US Las Vegas-Haneda proposal.
Hawaiian got one of the three Haneda slot machines
Hawaiian has proposed adding 3 times daily flights from Honolulu to Haneda flights operated by A330-200s, for a total of 4 daily flights to the market. The DOT just gives them an extra frequency, though.
This is not surprising, as the market is overcrowded.
Bottom line
I would say that the decisions of the DOT are more or less in line with what you expected. They take into account the demand they perceive for these routes and take them into account in the way airlines prioritize the routes they want the most.
In general:
- Releases from Honolulu to Haneda are not surprising, given the density of the market.
- I find the rejection of Las Vegas to Haneda interesting, because the DOT says that the possibilities of connection are limited, while noting that it is a big market; I would imagine that Americans would have approved if they had ranked better, but they rated it as their last choice
- It appears that the United-Houston Haneda route was rejected because it was last prioritized and offered no significant benefit to connecting passengers that was not offered through another hub.
- United's rejection between Guam and Haneda is perhaps the most interesting, as the DOT says it's mainly a recreational path and Narita will do just that.
Are there any decisions that you find surprising?
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