Delta lands Haneda slots for new Minneapolis flights

The DOT said it selected Minneapolis as the lone new route because it wanted Haneda access from a Midwestern hub city.

Hawaiian Airlines keeps its flight slots from Tokyo Haneda, but an extra daytime slot from that airport will go to Delta Air Lines, the U.S. Transportation Department announced Wednesday.

Previously, U.S. airlines were only allowed to fly into Haneda overnight.

Delta now offers a flight from Minneapolis to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, which is farther outside the city than Haneda.

The agreement, which was an amendment to the bilateral Open Skies agreement between the U.S. and Japan, announced that effective October 30, 2016, the four existing United States nighttime slot pairs at Haneda will be transferred to daytime hours.

The Atlanta-based SkyTeam Alliance carrier received two slot pairs, one to continue its service from Los Angeles and one for new service from its Minneapolis/St Paul hub, USA transportation secretary Anthony Foxx announces today.

But on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed Delta would get the fifth daytime flight. Hawaiian Airlines operates a flight between Honolulu and Tokyo Haneda. We are thankful for exceptional effort put forth by the Minneapolis-St. “We are hopeful the DOT will award MSP this service in its final decision”.

The proposed USA cities are Los Angeles, Honolulu, San Francisco, and Minneapolis and are scheduled to start as early this fall after the public has a chance to comment on the decision. Objections must be submitted by August 1. Except for Minneapolis, the cities already had night-time flights to Haneda.

Lt. Gov. Tina Smith said in the release the flight is “critical for Minnesota business travelers as they compete in the global marketplace and for the future vitality of our economy”.