UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

Issued by the Department of Transportation on June 29, 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 DELTA AIR LINES, INC. (Delta) filed 6/3/11 for:

XX Waiver of the 90-day dormancy condition applicable to its Detroit-Haneda slot pair, as follows:

Delta requests that the Department permit it the flexibility to adjust Detroit-Haneda service levels by granting

Delta relief, until June 1, 2012, from the 90-day dormancy condition applicable to its Detroit-Haneda slot pair. 

In support of its request, Delta states that the lingering effects of the Japanese earthquake have triggered major 

declines in U.S.-Tokyo demand, far below normal levels. Delta seeks flexibility to temporarily reduce or 

suspend service and to manage re-introduction of service, including resumption of daily service, in time for next 

year’s peak travel season. Delta 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. 

Applicant representative: Alexander Van der Bellen (202) 842-4184

DOT Analyst: Brett D. Kruger (202) 366-8025

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

scheduled combination services in the Detroit-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.

Responsive Pleadings: American Airlines, Inc. (American), Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. (Hawaiian), and United Air 

Lines, Inc. (United) filed answers to Delta’s motion, Delta filed a reply to those answers, and Hawaiian filed a reply to 

American’s answer.

1

Hawaiian opposes Delta’s request and states that the Department should award Delta’s Haneda-Detroit slot pair to 

Hawaiian for additional Haneda-Honolulu service starting in December 2011. Hawaiian contends that, because of the 

strength of the Tokyo-Honolulu market and Hawaiian’s Haneda service in particular, reallocation of Delta’s slot pair to 

Hawaiian for a second Honolulu-Haneda service would be a better use of operating rights between Haneda and the

United States. 

United states that although Delta’s current request is based on the extraordinary consequences of the disaster in Japan, 

Delta delayed institution of service, operated for one month before suspending service in March, and will reinstitute 

summer service with B-777 aircraft, significantly smaller than the B-747 aircraft that Delta proposed to use during the 

slot allocation proceeding. United urges the Department to withdraw Delta’s Detroit-Haneda slots and award them to 

United for the San Francisco-Haneda service it proposed in the 2010 proceeding. 

 1 Delta and Hawaiian requested leave to file their respective replies. We will grant the requests.
American states that it does not oppose Delta’s request and agrees that Delta has provided compelling reasons for the 

Department to review the Haneda situation.

2

In its reply, Delta maintains that its request is well substantiated and consistent with Department precedent under 

unusual and distressed market conditions. 

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

When we selected Delta’s Detroit-Haneda proposal, we did so because we concluded that Delta’s proposal would 

provide important public interest benefits. Significantly, we noted that Delta’s service would provide a large central 

and eastern U.S. catchment area with convenient access to Haneda through a proven U.S.-Asia hub. Following a brief 

startup delay, Delta introduced and operated this new service. Then, within a month of that introduction, a catastrophic 

natural disaster with a comparably catastrophic aftermath occurred in Japan and seriously disrupted traffic. In light of 

these extraordinary circumstances, we do not find Hawaiian’s or United’s objections, including their proposals for a 

replacement U.S.-Haneda service, proposals that were previously considered and not selected in the 2010 proceeding,

sufficiently compelling as to cause us to now forgo the anticipated public benefits of Detroit-Haneda service. We

recognize that these benefits might be somewhat delayed under the flexibility we are granting Delta and that there 

might be some cost in terms of permitting available bilateral rights to go temporarily unused. However, on balance, 

we have determined that, in the circumstances presented, those costs do not outweigh the value of preserving the 

anticipated benefits of Detroit-Haneda service and therefore do not warrant replacement of Detroit with an alternative 

U.S. gateway for Haneda service.

We will therefore grant Delta relief, until June 1, 2012, from the 90-day dormancy condition applicable to its DetroitHaneda slot pair. Specifically, we will require that Delta resume Detroit-Haneda service no later than June 1, 2012. 

We point out, however, 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: June 29, 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

 2 In addition, American expresses interest in extra-bilateral relief so that it can adjust the departure time for its New York flight to 

a time outside the currently bilaterally-agreed departure times at Haneda airport. In its reply, Hawaiian states that it, too, has 

concerns with several bilateral issues relating to operations at Haneda, and requests that, should the Department raise American’s 

issues with the Government of Japan, Hawaiian’s concerns be raised as well. We will consider these bilateral issues separately 

from this regulatory proceeding.