UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on July 21, 2011

NOTICE OF ACTION TAKEN -- DOCKET DOT-OST-2010-0018

This serves as notice to the public of the action described below, taken by the Department official indicated (no 

additional confirming order will be issued in this matter).

Motion of AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. (American) filed 6/30/11 for:

XX Waiver of the 90-day dormancy condition applicable to its New York (JFK)-Haneda slot pair, as follows:

American requests that the Department permit it the flexibility to adjust New York (JFK)-Haneda service levels 

by granting American relief, until June 1, 2012, from the 90-day dormancy condition applicable to its New York

(JFK)-Haneda slot pair. 

In support of its request, American states that the effects of the Japanese earthquake continue to have a severe 

negative impact on U.S.-Tokyo demand. American seeks flexibility to temporarily reduce or suspend service

and to manage re-introduction of service in time for the 2012 peak travel season. American states that its 

waiver request is consistent with the public interest as well as with Department precedent and policy under 

unusual and distressed market conditions. American specifically cites our recent action granting Delta a 

dormancy waiver for its Detroit-Haneda service until June 1, 2012.

1

 

Applicant representative: Carl B. Nelson (202) 496-5647 DOT Analyst: Brett D. Kruger (202) 366-8025

Background: By Order 2010-7-2, the Department, among other things, awarded American a slot pair to provide daily 

scheduled combination services in the New York (JFK)-Haneda market. The slot pair was awarded subject to our 

standard 90-day dormancy condition, wherein any slots not utilized for a period of 90 days (once inaugurated) 

would be deemed dormant and revert to the Department.2

Responsive Pleadings: United Air Lines, Inc. (United) filed an answer to American’s request. United states that 

although American’s current request is based on the extraordinary consequences of the earthquake, tsunami, and 

nuclear power plant damage in Japan, American sought and received authority to delay institution of service well 

before the disaster. United asks the Department to deny American’s request or, at the very least, limit any dormancy 

waiver to the period ending June 1, 2012, and offer United the opportunity to seek American’s slot pair if American 

seeks further extension of this dormancy waiver.

Decision: We have decided to grant the request of American for a dormancy waiver until June 1, 2012. 

When we selected American’s New York (JFK)-Haneda proposal, and subsequently granted a brief start-up extension, 

we did so because we concluded that American’s proposal would provide important public interest benefits. We 

recognize, as we recently did in granting a comparable Detroit-Haneda dormancy waiver to Delta, that in granting a 

dormancy waiver to American for its New York (JFK)-Haneda service, these benefits might be somewhat delayed and 

that there might be some cost in terms of permitting available bilateral rights to go temporarily unused. Nevertheless, 

on balance, we have determined that in the extraordinary circumstances presented, i.e., the catastrophic natural disaster 

and aftermath in Japan, those costs do not outweigh the value of preserving the anticipated benefits of New York

(JFK)-Haneda service.3

 1 See Notice of Action Taken dated June 29, 2011, in this Docket. 2 The slot pair was also subject to a start-up condition. After our approval of a brief extension of that condition, American began 

service on February 18, 2011.

3 See Notice of Action Taken dated June 29, 2011, in this Docket.
We will therefore grant American relief, until June 1, 2012, from the 90-day dormancy condition applicable to its New 

York (JFK)-Haneda slot pair. Specifically, we will require that American resume New York (JFK)-Haneda service no 

later than June 1, 2012. We again point out, however, as we did in awarding Delta its recent dormancy waiver for 

Detroit-Haneda, that given the limited opportunities that currently exist at Haneda and the interest of other carriers,

delay beyond that date might not be in the public interest and any future request for relief would be critically evaluated 

accordingly. 

D I S P O S I T I O N

XX Approved (subject to the terms of the decision section above)

The above action was effective when taken: July 21, 2011, until June 1, 2012.

Action taken by: Susan L. Kurland

Assistant Secretary for Aviation

and International Affairs

An electronic version of this document is available on the World Wide Web at:

http://www.regulations.gov