All Nippon Airways (ANA) is considering new service from Tokyo Haneda International airport to the US east coast, when it receives some of the new daytime slots for flights to the USA.
“The [US] east coast will probably be interesting,” said Shinya Katanozaka, chief executive of ANA, at the US Chamber of Commerce aviation summit in Washington DC on 22 March.
The Tokyo-based Star Alliance carrier currently flies to just New York John F Kennedy and Washington Dulles on the US east coast from Tokyo Narita, Innovata FlightMaps Analytics shows.
New York is the most likely candidate for a new Tokyo Haneda flight. The New York area is largest market for Tokyo traffic on the east coast.
ANA expects to receive between two and four of the five daytime slots from Japanese authorities, which will replace the four existing nighttime Haneda-USA slots, says Katanozaka.
The airline has two of the nighttime frequencies, which it uses for nonstop service to Honolulu and Los Angeles from Tokyo Haneda. Japan Airlines (JAL) uses the remaining two for service to Honolulu and San Francisco.
There is also one nighttime frequency available to Japanese carriers under the expanded US-Haneda access that Japanese and US authorities reached in February.
ANA is competing with Japan Airlines (JAL) for the frequencies.
US carriers have access to their own allotment of six Haneda-USA frequencies, with five during daytime hours and one at night. The US Department of Transportation invited them to submit applications for the authorities on 22 March.
Katanozaka expects Japanese authorities to award the Tokyo Haneda-USA frequencies in “April or May”, after which ANA will determine how it plans to use them, he says.
The shift to daytime hours makes flights to the US east coast economically feasible. American Airlines operated JFK-Haneda on and off from 2011 with a nighttime frequency but ended the route citing losses in November 2013.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
