Hawaiian Airlines Gains Approval for Kona-Tokyo Haneda Flights

Tokyo Haneda

Hawaiian Airlines announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation approved its application to offer nighttime service from Kona, Hawaii to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

There was no competition from other airlines for the nighttime slot.

“Hawaiian, and Hawaiian alone, requested the nighttime slot pair, and the Department finds that prompt approval of Hawaiian’s request is consistent with the public interest,” the agency said in its order on Friday.

On October 30, Hawaiian will have 90 days to commence service on the route. The carrier plans to begin flights by the time the 90 days are up, or prior to January 29, 2016.

A trade agreement signed between the United States and Japan in February gave U.S. airlines greater access to the highly coveted daytime slots at Tokyo Haneda.

The agreement saw officials add five new slots between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. local time and cut the number of overnight slots from four to one.

The Department of Transportation has eight remaining applications from four U.S. airlines for daytime slots at the Tokyo airport, of which it can only approve five.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)