Hawaiian Airlines has struck out again on its bid for a route between Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport and Kona.

The state’s largest carrier, which had been rejected two previous times, had been hoping to get the nod after the U.S. Department of Transportation reopened bidding over concern that Delta Air Lines was under-utilizing its Haneda-Seattle service with reduced flights during the winter. 

But Delta applied to retain its Seattle slot and agreed to the DOT’s condition that it operate the flights year-round. Delta said it plans to resume daily service on Sunday.

The DOT said in its tentative order issued Friday that if Delta doesn’t apply by the daily service condition, then the slot would be awarded to American Airlines for its proposed Haneda-Los Angeles route.

Hawaiian Airlines President and CEO Mark Dunkerley said the decision “to allow Delta Air Lines to retain the valuable right to fly from Tokyo’s Haneda International Airport for largely unused service to Seattle is tremendously disappointing.”

“We are further disappointed that the U.S. DOT has determined that should Delta’s planned service continue to fail, the Haneda slots will be assigned to American Airlines,” he added.

Hawaiian and American began petitioning the DOT to reallocate the slot after Delta announced last year it would be reducing the frequency of its Haneda-Seattle service during the winter from daily to seasonal. In December the DOT said it would consider reallocating the Delta slot, one of four Haneda slots that was awarded to U.S. carriers in 2010. Delta initially used that slot for Haneda-Detroit service before getting permission from the DOT to transfer it to Seattle.

If Hawaiian had landed the Haneda-Kona route, it would have represented Hawaii island’s first scheduled flights from Japan since Japan Airlines ended service Oct. 29, 2010, from Narita Airport outside Tokyo. 

“Hawaiian is the only airline to have operated Haneda service continuously and successfully since the slot rights were granted,” Dunkerley said. “Our proposal provided more seats and would have resulted in more travelers flying between Japan and the United States than either Delta’s or American’s proposal. Kona is the largest unserved market in this proceeding, and Hawaiian’s proposed route would have generated more economic benefit than that offered by either Delta or American. None of these facts are in dispute by the DOT.”