DOT expects U.S. flights to Japan’s Haneda Airport this fall

The U.S. Department of Transportation has picked four airlines that are expected to provide new daytime flights to Tokyo, Japan’s Haneda Airport as early as this fall.

   The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has picked four airlines that are expected to provide new daytime flights to Tokyo, Japan’s Haneda Airport as early as this fall.
   The airlines include American, Delta, Hawaiian and United. These carriers seek to provide five flights per day to Haneda from the U.S. cities of Los Angeles, Honolulu, San Francisco and Minneapolis.
   On Feb.18, the U.S. and Japanese governments agreed to amend their longstanding bilateral “open skies” agreement. The amendment allowed the transfer of four existing U.S. nighttime landings at Haneda to be transferred to daytime hours. In addition, one new daytime flight opportunity and one new nighttime flight opportunity became available for U.S. carrier scheduled passenger services.
   “Three of the cities – Los Angeles, Honolulu and San Francisco – already have service to Haneda, but those services have been required to operate at night only. Under the new agreement, carriers may arrive and depart Haneda during more favorable daytime hours. The new route from Minneapolis also is included in that group,” DOT said in a statement Wednesday.
   DOT said Hawaiian was the only airline to apply for the single nighttime opportunity made available under the agreement. On May 13, the department announced the award to Hawaiian for service between Kona and Haneda, and between Honolulu and Haneda.
   The department said any objections to the proposed allocations are due by Aug. 1.