Continental, United bid to fly to Tokyo's downtown airport

CONTINENTAL Airlines and its wholly-owned subsidiary Continental Micronesia have submitted a joint application to the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to fly non-stop to Tokyo's Haneda Airport from the carriers' respective hubs at Newark and from Guam.

In a similar move, United Airlines has also applied to DOT to provide non-stop air service from its hub in San Francisco to Haneda.

The route applications from Continental Airlines, Continental Micronesia and United Airlines come in the wake of the recently approved US-Japan Open Skies Agreement, expected to take effect later this year.

The Open Skies Agreement would provide the US airline industry access to downtown Tokyo's Haneda airport for the first time in more than 30 years, said Continental. Up until now, Haneda was mainly a domestic airport.

"We thank both the US and Japan negotiating teams for achieving this landmark agreement, which will benefit air travel and consumers for years to come," said Continental chairman, president and CEO Jeff Smisek.

Continental's proposed non-stop Haneda service aims to begin in late 2010, deploying a Boeing 777 from Newark and Boeing 767-400 from Guam.

United Airlines is also applying for one of the four pairs of daily US to Haneda slots that are available to US carriers under the accords.

"United has long been a leader in transpacific service, and we look forward to the opportunity to deliver new options and an improved level on convenience for customers travelling to and from Tokyo," said United vice president Mark Schwab in a statement.

Mr Schwab, in charge of alliances and regulatory affairs, said that San Francisco is United Airlines' primary US gateway to Asia. Provided the route application is successful, passengers at Haneda would benefit from the carrier's codeshare agreements with All Nippon Airways, which would provide connecting services from numerous cities in Japan and several cities in Asia.

United plans to serve San Francisco-Haneda market with a Boeing 777-200.

(Source: www.schednet.com)