United Airlines on Monday in a filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation objected to a Delta Air Lines request for flexibility in the transpacific service it is authorized to offer to Tokyo's Haneda Airport.
Delta last week asked DOT to institute a three-year pilot program that would allow the carrier and the other U.S. airlines that hold Haneda slots—including United—the flexibility to change the U.S. destinations from which it would offer Haneda service. DOT in 2019 awarded several new slots at Haneda to Delta, United, American Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, but the carriers were required to serve specific destinations without the ability to change.
Delta cited the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic and the changing nature of air travel in its request. "Corporate demand in some of the business-heavy markets, including those between the U.S. West Coast and Haneda, continues to be constrained," according to the carrier's filing. The proposal would allow Delta to "adapt to the evolving international air travel environment while tailoring their network and service offerings to meet the evolving demands of consumers."
American Airlines in a brief DOT filing supported Delta's, noting that "enabling flexible, market-based decision-making for U.S.-Haneda service is warranted in the current demand environment."
United, however, in a DOT filing strongly objected to Delta's proposal, calling it a "self-serving scheme" and instead calling for DOT to conduct a full carrier-selection process for any slots with changing destinations.
United countered Delta's claim of soft demand between the U.S. and Japan, noting Japan only fully dropped its Covid vaccination and negative-test requirements for inbound international travelers on April 28. "We can reasonably expect the upward trend of demand recovery in Japan to continue and accelerate, just as it did in South Korea, Singapore, and Australia, for example," according to United's filing, which added, "United is anticipating a full return of demand in Summer 2023 and thereafter."
Delta currently operates direct routes between Haneda and five U.S. airports: Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Seattle/Tacoma. It also has DOT approval for service to Honolulu and Portland, Ore., but does not plan to restart post-pandemic direct service until the fall of 2023. Delta in its filing did not indicate the specifics of any citypair switches it might pursue, but United surmised Delta wants the flexibility not to offer the Portland and Honolulu service.
United, which operates direct routes between Haneda and Chicago O'Hare, Los Angeles, Newark, San Francisco and Washington Dulles, suggested DOT instead of allowing Delta to switch cities should consider two locations the carrier pitched for the 2019 selection but which weren't chosen: Houston and Guam.
DOT has not publicly responded to Delta's request, nor has it offered a timeline for doing so.