Delta Air Lines officially walked away from seven operating frequencies at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport late last week. Now United Airlines has formally requested access to those slots as it looks to consolidate its Tokyo operations.
United hopes to launch service from Houston with the slots, augmenting the existing ANA operations on that route. The company notes it will offer additional time-of-day coverage relative to the existing ANA flight, boosting options for travelers from Houston as well as from a few dozen cities across the South with reasonable connections.
It does not appear, however, that United plans to grow capacity across the Pacific. The carrier notes that it will use flight numbers 6/7 for the Houston-Haneda service. Those flight numbers serve Narita today. This suggests a shift of service across town, not an increase in operations to Japan.
In its regulatory filing United took a few small digs at Delta, noting that the carrier could have relinquished the slots earlier as it was obvious it had no plans to use them.
It is a shame that Delta has known for weeks, if not months, that it has no intention of flying Portland – Haneda with plenty of opportunities to clarify its intentions for the Department and consumers,5 but chose instead to hold the slot pair until near the Department’s deadline.
United also notes that Hawaiian appears to be underutilizing its slots at Haneda. Hawaiian currently holds night slots which it previously operated as a split service between Honolulu and Kona. For the upcoming season, however, it appears to only be selling flights on two days per week. United requested access on the other five nights to launch Guam flights.
Hawaiian has until 1 October to formally return its unused slots to the DOT or apply for a waiver if it does not plan to operate the flights.
United expects that it will be able to initiate services within 60 days of a DOT decision. That is impressively quick for a new international operation. But it also has the benefit of ANA as a joint venture partner on the ground, allowing it some flexibility with ground handling and shuffling flight times if needed.
More from Handea’s slot history for US carriers:
- Delta denied Haneda slot flex request
- Delta looks to flex at Haneda
- Delta, United win big in Haneda slot allocation
- Welcome to the 2019 Haneda Slot Lottery!
- Haggling for Haneda, Clashing over China
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