Hawaiian Airlines (HA, Honolulu) has come out in support of Delta Air Lines' request to US regulators to relax slot restrictions between the US and Tokyo Haneda, saying Covid had changed the playing field, which needed new rules.
"Hawaiian respectfully submits that the unprecedented disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic warrants taking a different approach that places greater reliance on free market principles and competition. For that reason, Hawaiian supports the Delta motion," the airline said in a regulatory filing to the Department of Transportation (DOT) on May 10.
Delta's proposal for the department to continue waiving slot restrictions on two of the airline's five slot pairs on the route as part of a three-year pilot programme would allow the regulator to examine the public interest impact of granting limited gateway flexibility, Hawaiian said.
During the pandemic, the DOT repeatedly granted US carriers temporary blanket relief from start-up and dormancy conditions applicable to slot use, including at Haneda. The current slot waiver expires in July 2023, but Delta has argued that traffic recovery was lagging behind in the US-Tokyo market, where passenger volumes were down 51% in 2023 compared to 2019.
Hawaiian said it supported increased market access and liberalised access to Haneda. It had already supported Delta's unsuccessful motion in 2019 for gateway flexibility.
American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) also supports Delta's request, but United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare) strongly opposes, it, claiming it's a "self-serving scheme" to improve Delta's financial performance on the route. United sees no need for current Tokyo Haneda dormancy extensions and slot waivers and has asked the DOT to reallocate the slots if Delta cannot fill them.
