- » . ' 

Office of the Mayor lli^ m Gavin Newsom 

City & County of San Francisco 

SI0-100308-048 

February 25, 2010 CONTROL NO 

The Honorable Raymond H. LaHood -',: 

Secretary l-j 

United States Department of Transportation 9?, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, S.E. '. ^ 

Wasliington, D.C. 20590 

Dear Secretary LaHood: . r3 

I am writing this letter in response to the Department of Transportation's (DOT) proceeding (Docket 2010-dD18) to 

ask that DOT allocate to San Francisco one of the four (4) new opportunities for air service between the United 

States and Tokyo's Haneda International Airport. 

The San Francisco Bay Area is not only home to the nation's oldest and most vibrant Japanese-American 

community, but has long been, and remains, a key focus of economic activity between the U.S. and Japan. Our city 

is proud of our long history with Japan that dates back to the landing on our shores of the first official diplomatic 

mission from Japan in March of 1860, that continued through the fonnation of the first Japantown in the United States 

eariy last century, the signing of the Peace Treaty of San Francisco in 1951, the formation of the first U.S.-Japanese 

Sister City program (San Francisco with Osaka) in 1957 to the present, where the vibrant commercial and cultural 

partnership with Japan is part of our city's fabric. 

Together with San Jose and other communities in the Bay Area Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA), San Francisco 

has the second largest concentration of Japanese ancestry Americans in the mainland U;S. If you include the entire 

state, California's Japanese population far exceeds that of all other states, and is neariy ten times that of New Yori^ 

and 15 times that of Illinois. 

Of particular importance in this Haneda proceeding is the fact that business travel represents a disproportionate 

share of San Francisco-Japan travel. According to an analysis of U.S. Commerce Department data, Japanese 

travelers are roughly 30% more likely to travel to California for business purposes than other overseas visitors, and 

more than twice as likely to travel with business associates. Nonstop SFO service to Haneda would directly serve 

this key Bay Area business demand, and so provide an important economic enhancement for the state and the 

region. 

As Asia's busiest airport, with connections throughout Japan, Haneda offers a major service iftiprovement for U.S. 

travelers, particularly time-sensitive business travelers. Haneda's geographic proximity to'the financial and t)usiness 

centers of Tokyo (about 15 kilometers) and its connections with many urban Tokyo transportation options makes it far 

preferable for travelers seeking fast and convenient access to downtown Tokyo than Narita International Airport, 75 

kilometers away. While estimates vary, Haneda service could cut an hour or more frdm today's time-consuming and 

costly journey between downtown Tokyo and Narita, and so the overall journey from the U.S. to Tokyo. 

] Dr. Carlton B. Goodiett Place, Room 200, .San Francisco, California 94102-4641 

gavin.newsom@sfgov.org • (415) 554-6141 
Office of the Mayor 

City & County of San Francisco 

Gavin Neivsom 

The public interest in maximizing the benefits of the newly-negotiated U.S. carrier access to Haneda cleariy favors 

allocating a Haneda service opportunity to an applicant - in this case, United Airiines ~ that seeks to serve the Bay 

Area, a focus of US-Japan commerce. We congratulate your Department on negotiating U.S. access to this important 

Asian hub and urge y ^ to act expeditiously to make possible nonstop service between San Francisco and Haneda. 

1 Dr Carlton B. Goodiett Place, Room 200, San Francisco, California 94102-4641 

gavin.newsom@sfgov.org • (415) 554-6141