Delta Air Lines may not alter its US gateways for flights to Tokyo’s Haneda airport. The US Department of Transportation rejected the carrier’s bid for flexibility in those operations, noting that the route authorities were allocated based on the airlines’ efforts to connect a broad range of US airports to Tokyo. It does not approve of that changing without a full, competitive reallocation proceeding.
Allowing carriers to now select at their discretion a different U.S. gateway would defeat the Department’s rationale for selection of the existing carriers and gateways over other competing applicants and would undermine the Department’s public interest determinations made for the benefit of the traveling and shipping public.
-US DOT Ruling
While the Department is vaguely sympathetic to Delta’s notions of a changed macroeconomic and travel environment since the 2019 allocation of the routes, it steadfastly refuses to budge on the process for reallocating those limited route authorities. Any change in Haneda gateways “should be based on a comprehensive evidentiary record and public interest analysis,” the agency states in its ruling. “We believe that forgoing those procedural steps,” the Department continues, “would introduce complex and controversial elements that would not serve to promote our important public interest goals.”
We do not believe, however, that the public interest would be best served by allowing carriers to change their selected U.S. gateways to Haneda, even on a temporary or limited basis as Delta proposes, at their own discretion and without an opportunity for the Department to fully consider the views of all potentially interested parties…
-US DOT Ruling
Delta must now decide if it will operate all its Haneda routes from the end of October when the current usage waiver expires. Should it not intend to do so, it must notify the Department by 1 October 2023. In a small win for the carrier it avoided United Airlines‘ request for an immediate reallocation of Delta’s theoretically unused slots.
An key initial indicator of Delta’s intentions may be pricing on the Portland-Tokyo route. While the request was pending Delta priced the trip above $10,000 in economy class, effectively dissuading purchase of the flights. If it plans to operate that number should drop significantly, making the route feasible for travelers.
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