," according to the carrier's request for a DOT exemption. Delta claimed U.S.-Tokyo bookings "for the next several months" are down 31 percent year over year, with U.S. point-of-sale bookings down 49 percent and premium bookings down 43 percent. "Under normal circumstances Detroit is a proven and successful gateway to Tokyo," Delta wrote. "However, current U.S.-Tokyo market conditions are anything but normal and U.S. passengers (including essential business traffic) are simply not booking travel to Tokyo." Following the March earthquake and tsunami, Delta and other airlines announced what they characterized as
temporary capacity cuts to and from Japan.