American Airlines this week applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation to operate daily nonstop service between Los Angeles International Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

American is seeking to replace Delta's route allotment to Haneda from Seattle, which the U.S. DOT is reviewing after Delta reduced frequency from daily to seasonal. Hawaiian Airlines, which already serves Haneda from Honolulu, also has applied for the slot, seeking to serve Haneda from Kona, Hawaii. The U.S.-Japan bilateral agreement allows four daily round-trip flights from the United States to Haneda; besides Hawaiian's slot and Delta's Seattle slot, the other two are served by Delta from LAX and United Airlines from San Francisco.