Japan is opening up 24 more slot pairs at Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport—the closer-in one that many business travelers prefer over far-out Narita—and four U.S. airlines are scrambling to grab the 12 pairs allocated for the U.S.
United and Delta are each looking for six of the slots, with American asking for four and Hawaiian for three—at total of 19. Who gets what will be determined by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The slots are hugely valuable to the airlines not only because of the Haneda location, but because flights on new routes will begin just in time for the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo.
The U.S. gets half the expansion as part of a deal; opening up the slots required permission from the Japanese and U.S. Air Forces to use more time in airspace that’s controlled by Yokota Air Base, west of Tokyo, without disrupting military operations. Allocating half the 24 pairs to the U.S. was the sweetener in the deal.
United would like to add Haneda service with daily flights of Chicago O’Hare, Newark, Washington Dulles, LAX, Houston and to Guam, a U.S. territory. Delta’s looking for flights to Atlanta, Detroit, Portland, Seattle and two a day to Honolulu. Hawaiian also has eyes on Haneda-to-Honolulu and wants three flights a day. American’s list is two a day from Dallas/Fort Worth and one each from LAX and Las Vegas.
Just flew in and out of Haneda and the airport is better than ever. It is really well run and prices for food and drinks very reasonable.