US, Japanese carriers go head to head in fight for Haneda slots

ANA - All Nippon Airways will be awarded more than half of 20 new international arrival and departure slots at Tokyo Haneda, more than twice what it will give rival JAL - Japan Airlines, Reuters has reported. 

ANA lobbied hard for a big share of the landing rights, arguing that it had been put at a competitive disadvantage by JAL's USD3.5 billion taxpayer funded bailout in 2010. ANA will receive 11 slots against five for JAL, the sources told Reuters on condition they weren't identified. 

The distribution of a further four slots designated for routes to and from the United States will be decided after Japan concludes bilateral negotiations with the US government, they added. Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines is pushing for 25 slot pairs at Haneda so it can return most of its flights to Haneda after having to shift to Tokyo’s more-distant Tokyo Narita in 1978 to ease overcrowding. 

“Access to those slots is considered very important by the U.S. carriers,” said Peter Harbison, executive chairman at Sydney-based CAPA Centre for Aviation. “It creates the obvious competitive advantages being close to the city and having desirable arrival and departure times. 

Delta feels entitled to slots.”United Airlines which has teamed up with ANA, is seeking its first slot on its own while American Airlines, a partner with Japan Airlines, is seeking a better flight time for its existing New York JFK-Tokyo round trip. Both United and American benefit from flight slots held by their Japanese partners. 

Akihiro Ohta, Japan’s transport minister, said the new slots would become effective in March 2014 but offered no exact date as to when the slots would be allocated. Japan has been gradually increasing landing and takeoff slots at Haneda since the opening of a new runway in 2010.

Source: CH-Aviation