DOT considers Delta flights from Seattle to Tokyo

   The U.S. Transportation Department has proposed to allow Delta Air Lines to serve Tokyo’s downtown Haneda Airport from Seattle.
   Under a U.S.-Japan agreement, U.S. airlines may operate a total of four daily roundtrip flights per day at Haneda Airport, where operations are limited. In 2010, DOT awarded Delta two of those flight opportunities, one for service from Detroit and the other from Los Angeles.
   On July 30, Delta asked for DOT’s approval to serve Haneda from Seattle, rather than Detroit. In response, three other airlines filed proposals to use the flight opportunity for a new daily flight of their own. American Airlines proposed a service from Los Angeles, Hawaiian Airlines from Kona, Hawaii, and United Air Lines from San Francisco. The department instituted a proceeding to consider the competing proposals.
   In its show-cause order, DOT tentatively concluded that it would be in the public interest to allow Delta to use the opportunity for service from Seattle. Delta’s proposal would provide the first nonstop service between Haneda and Seattle and offer a number of Western U.S. cities with their first one-stop connecting service to Haneda, DOT tentatively found.
   In addition to Delta’s current service from Detroit and Los Angeles, service to Haneda Airport is also provided by American from New York’s JFK Airport and Hawaiian from Honolulu.
   DOT said objections to the show-cause order are due on Nov. 26. If objections are filed, answers to objections will be due Dec. 3. The show-cause order and other documents in the case are available on line (http://www.regulations.gov) in the docket DOT-OST-2010-0018.