BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

In the Matter of )

)

2010 U.S.-Haneda Combination ) Docket DOT-OST-2010-0018

Services Allocation Proceeding )

)

APPLICATION OF CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC. AND 

UNITED AIR LINES, INC. FOR AWARD OF BACK-UP AUTHORITY

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to:

Hershel I. Kamen

Vice President – International,

 Regulatory and Policy

UNITED AIR LINES, INC. AND

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC.

1350 I Street, NW

Washington, DC 20005-3389

Steve Morrissey

Managing Director, Regulatory & Policy

UNITED AIR LINES, INC. AND

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC.

Jeffrey A. Manley

Senior Regulatory Advisor

UNITED AIR LINES, INC.

1025 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20036

(301) 229-8571

jeffrey.manley@united.com

March 29, 2011

Daniel A. Weiss

Managing Director, International & 

Regulatory Affairs

UNITED AIR LINES, INC. AND

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC.

Thomas Newton Bolling

Managing Attorney, Regulatory Affairs

CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC.

P.O. Box 4607 – HQSLG

Houston, TX 77210-4607

(713) 324-5606

thomas.bolling@coair.com
BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY

WASHINGTON, DC

In the Matter of )

)

2010 U.S.-Haneda Combination ) Docket DOT-OST-2010-0018

Services Allocation Proceeding )

)

APPLICATION OF CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC. AND 

UNITED AIR LINES, INC. FOR AWARD OF BACK-UP AUTHORITY

Continental1and United request the issuance to them of back-up authority to 

Delta and the other carriers awarded slots at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in the abovereferenced proceeding. Such authority should be awarded for a period of one year and 

should become effective if a holder of Haneda slots fails to operate its slots for a period 

of more than 90 days. Continental and United will use the slots to implement one or 

more of the services they proposed in this proceeding, as described below. 

Continental and United state as follows in support of this application:

2

1. By Order 2010-7-2, the Department allocated slots allowing limited 

services at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which was scheduled to be reopened in October 

2010 for limited international long-haul services. The awards were made pursuant to the 

U.S.-Japan Memorandum of Understanding of December 11, 2009 (“MOU”), which 

limited U.S. carrier services between Haneda and the United States to a total of 28 

 

1 Common names for airlines are used.

2 Effective October 1, 2010, Continental and United became commonly owned by United 

Continental Holdings, Inc. The two carriers, however, are continuing to operate separately until 

the Federal Aviation Administration authorizes combined operations under a single operating 

certificate. 
Application of Continental and United

Page 2

weekly slots. In their applications, Continental and United proposed daily services to 

Guam, New York/Newark and San Francisco, but were not awarded any of the 28 

available slots.3 All other applicants received slots, half awarded to Delta and the other 

half split equally between American and Hawaiian.

2. Delta, which operates a hub at Tokyo Narita Airport, was awarded slots 

allowing it to operate daily services between Haneda and both Los Angeles and Detroit. 

It proposed to start services with B747 equipment on October 31, 2010, or within 120 

days of the effectiveness of the MOU. 

3. The Department did not select a back-up carrier because it believed at the 

time that the “record in this proceeding indicates that the selected carriers are committed 

to inaugurating their U.S.-Haneda services in a timely manner.” Order 2010-7-2 at 8. 

The awards to Delta, American and Hawaiian were issued on July 6, 2010, and the 

opportunities were expected to be available at the end of October 2010. In view of the 

uncertainty inherent in the completion date of runway expansion at Haneda and the date 

on which the MOU would be signed, the Department did not require service to start 

within the usual 120 day interval from the date of its final order (about November 6, 

2010), but gave carriers the option of deferring their start-up until 90 days following 

October 31, 2010 (i.e., late January 2011). Id. at 8, n. 27.4 Despite the three-month 

extension of the start-up date beyond the usual requirement, Delta did not promptly start 

 

3 The Guam-Haneda service was proposed by Continental Micronesia in a joint application that 

also included Continental’s New York/Newark proposal. Continental and Continental 

Micronesia have already merged into a single carrier (Notice of Action Taken, November 5, 

2010, in Docket DOT-OST-2010-0266), and Continental has continued Continental Micronesia’s 

operations at Guam and elsewhere. 

4

In the event of a delay beyond the October target date for both of these events, the Department 

remained open to a further extension. As it turned out, the runway and new international terminal 

were completed and the MOU was signed before the end of October. 
Application of Continental and United

Page 3

service to Haneda as it had proposed in its application, but requested a deferral to start 

Haneda services in February, and American followed suit with a request to start its 

Haneda services in March. See Motion of Delta dated September 7, 2010 and Motion of 

American dated December 20, 2010, in this docket. American ultimately started Haneda 

service on February 18, 2011, and Delta one day later. 

4. On or about March 17, 2011, Delta announced that it was suspending all 

service at Haneda effective March 24, 2011. Delta’s suspension of Haneda service will 

reportedly end as late as early June, which is a few days short of the 90 days that would 

constitute an abandonment of the service.5 

5. To avoid any risk to Haneda the Department should act immediately to 

name Continental and United as back-up carrier in the event that Delta (or any other 

Haneda-authorized U.S. carrier) decides to abandon service at Haneda. The back-up 

authority should be awarded to “Continental Airlines, Inc. and/or United Air Lines, Inc.” 

consistent with all other authority issued and reissued to the carriers for the transitional 

period until their operations and service are combined as a single carrier. Depending on 

what Haneda services are abandoned and how many slots are available, Continental and 

United are prepared to start daily services using equipment consistent with the Guam, 

New York/Newark or San Francisco services they proposed in this proceeding. Such 

slots as become available should be authorized subject to the start-up and dormancy 

conditions normally applicable to back-up authority in limited-entry markets. As the 

 

5 Reports are conflicting on the end of Delta’s service suspension, with dates falling between May 

31 and June 4 depending on the source. In view of the actions of Delta as described above, the 

public interest would be best served by the Department's consideration of the instant application.

This is especially the case since Delta’s Haneda service is uncertain so soon after it inaugurated 

that service.
Application of Continental and United

Page 4

events since the Department’s awards have demonstrated, the lack of a back-up carrier 

for Haneda services creates the risk of a substantial loss of the value to the public of these 

hard won economic assets if any of the carriers awarded slots in this proceeding ceases its 

service or services. It took over a year from the start of this proceeding to the start of 

service between the mainland U.S. and Haneda under the awards made by the 

Department. Without a back-up carrier in place, if any of the incumbents abandons its 

Haneda service, there will inevitably be a significant delay in selecting a replacement.

This will lead directly to a loss of much needed Haneda service and the economic value 

of these scarce assets to the U.S. economy, a loss that will be particularly harmful to the 

competitive position of the U.S. carrier industry if reciprocal services by Japanese 

carriers continue. It would be contrary to sound foreign economic policy to allow such a 

situation to occur. 49 U.S.C. § 40101 (a) and (e).

6. Continental and United are ready and willing to operate any of their 

previously proposed Guam, New York/Newark or San Francisco–Haneda services using 

equipment consistent with their proposals in this proceeding. If Haneda service is 

abandoned and to prevent any waste of valuable Haneda slots, the Department should 

rely on the carriers’ previous submissions in this proceeding to support its award of backup authority. Under the circumstances of this case, the record in this proceeding remains 

current and complete and allows the Department’s issuance of an appropriate order to 

issue the requested back-up authority without delay. 

For these reasons, Continental and United respectfully ask the Department to 

issue to them a back-up allocation of slots for U.S.-Tokyo Haneda services as proposed in 

this proceeding to become effective if and when any of the carriers already allocated slots 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

I hereby certify that I have this date served a copy of the foregoing document on 

all persons named below by causing a copy to be sent via email:

benjamin.slocum@usairways.com

carl.nelson@aa.com

howard_kass@usairways.com

jhill@dowlohnes.com (Hawaiian)

jeff.morgan@delta.com

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com

donna.kooperstein@usdoj.gov

dwight.moore@ustranscom.mil

john.allen@faa.gov

urskr@state.gov

sbaer@panynj.gov

challock@newark/newyorkrbp.org

carloss@guamairport.net

john.martin@flysfo.com

kandace.bender@flysfo.com

Annalei Avanceña 

International Regulatory Advisor

March 29, 2011