News arrives indicting that Department of Transport in the USA are close to giving the green light for OneWorld and Star Alliance carriers, connecting Japan and the USA.
Of course, something has to hold up this agreement, and that is the approval of an Open Skies agreement being signed, with the first part of it being the Tokyo Haneda slots being awarded.
In this case, the Star Alliance carriers are Continental/United and ANA, with OneWorld represented by American Airlines and JAL.
SkyTeam is not represented as they have no local partner in Japan (their nearest partner is over the sea in Korea)
Reasons for possible approval have been increased competition between the groupings in TPAC markets, lower fares and reduce travel/connection time.
It’s now clear to see the price Delta has paid for not getting JAL to defect from OneWorld to SkyTeam, and why SkyTeam has been boosting its Asian Markets recently, with the joint venture threatening Delta.
Whilst Delta has a big hub in Tokyo, the onwards connections from there are fewer because of the lack of local partners, and with the JV’s being tied up, Delta has to look further afield to access markets now.
