Hawaiian Airlines is seeking to wrest away a coveted Haneda International Airport slot from Delta Air Lines and is accusing the world’s No. 2 carrier of undermining the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In a recent motion filed with the DOT, Hawaiian said Delta hasn’t delivered on its promises to the federal agency when Delta was allowed to reallocate an underperforming Haneda-Detroit route to Seattle. Hawaiian, which currently has one of four available U.S.-Haneda slots, is seeking to add a second one because it says it can put it to better use than its Atlanta-based counterpart.
"Delta continues to undermine the department’s goal of expanding U.S. air carrier access to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport," Hawaiian wrote. "Delta has demonstrated that it is not committed to Haneda service."
Hawaiian is requesting that the DOT reopen a 2012 case that allowed Delta to switch Haneda service from Detroit to Seattle. Hawaiian has asked the DOT that it take the Seattle service away from Delta and reallocate that Haneda slot to Hawaiian. American Airlines filed a similar motion but is requesting that it be able to use the Haneda slot for Los Angeles.
Delta’s winter schedule shows that it will offer just 17 round-trip flights between Haneda and Seattle from Oct. 5 through March 29, according to a motion filed by American Airlines.
"Out of 182 possible operating days, Delta plans to operate on only 17 days — less than 10 percent of the total days," American wrote. "This limited service provides no consumer benefits."
Delta, responding to the reallocation requests by American and Hawaiian, said it is operating its Seattle-Haneda slots "in full compliance with the DOT."
"While it has been challenging to establish Haneda service, as we continue to implement our Seattle strategy, we have seen passenger traffic and profitability surge," Delta wrote. "In fact, Delta’s summer season … performance improved by an astounding 54 percent year-over-year. Buoyed by this unexpectedly strong summer 2014 performance, Delta has offered a full pattern of daily Seattle-Haneda service in summer 2015 and anticipates a more regular schedule next winter.
"Delta’s seasonal reduction this winter — operated in full compliance with DOT’s dormancy condition — is a temporary measure that is reasonable and appropriate in the current circumstances. Seattle is Delta’s largest West Coast hub and each new ‘spoke’ added to the hub makes every other flight stronger," the company wrote.
Hawaiian has been rebuffed three times by the DOT in an attempt to be awarded an additional Haneda slot. The first time was in 2010 when Hawaiian sought two Haneda-Honolulu slots but received only one. Delta received two at the time — one for Los Angeles and one for Detroit — and American Airlines received one for New York.
In November 2012, Hawaiian lost a bid for a Haneda-Kona route when the DOT approved Delta’s request to transfer the carrier’s previously approved Haneda slot in Detroit to Seattle rather than allow another airline to use the Haneda slot.
Then in March of this year, Hawaiian lost its bid again for a Haneda-Kona route. That slot became available when American discontinued it money-losing Haneda-New York service in December. The slot was awarded to United Airlines for Haneda service to San Francisco.
Hawaiian Airlines CEO Mark Dunkerley said last week in a phone interview that Hawaiian has not yet announced which airport would be used for a second Haneda slot if the airline is awarded one. However, in its previous two Haneda slot attempts, Hawaiian sought a second Haneda slot for daily service to Kona.
Hawaii island has been without scheduled flights from Japan since Japan Airlines ended service Oct. 29, 2010, from Narita Airport outside Tokyo.
"First, let’s see if the route gets reopened," Dunkerley said. "During the winter period Delta has virtually abandoned Seattle to Haneda. We think there are better uses of that valuable U.S. slot."
As things stand now, though, Kona Airport is no longer recognized as an international point of entry and would need to be recertified by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Honolulu has been Hawaii’s only international point of entry since the CBP shut down the Kona port of entry in 2012.
Hawaiian wrote in its recent motion that no carrier can match the airline’s record of using the single Haneda frequency awarded in the initial 2010 proceeding.
"Upon receiving authority to operate Haneda-Honolulu service in 2010, Hawaiian started its service early," Hawaiian said. "When other carriers requested permission to reduce or stop service during the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami, Hawaiian continued its service without interruption. Indeed, the load factor (percentage of seats filled) for Hawaiian’s Haneda service remains higher than that of all the other U.S. carriers serving Haneda."
Hawaiian said in its filing that Delta’s recent scheduling "sleight of hand is just the latest indignity that Delta has heaped upon the department’s policy of expanding Haneda access for U.S. carriers. In the initial Haneda allocation proceeding, Delta assured the department that its proposed Detroit service was an absolute winner. That didn’t work very well. … Next, Delta told the department and the competing applicants that Seattle would be a great market for Haneda service. These assurances of success were given even though others, including Hawaiian, pointed out that Seattle was the smallest market proposed in the proceeding and warned that it would not succeed."
"Now, Delta has unilaterally cut its use of this valuable Haneda slot pair without even acknowledging that department approval of such a change might be required. … At some point, the department needs to call a halt to this charade and award this frequency to a carrier, such as Hawaiian, that will use it."
