DOT 29-02
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
DOT Responds to
Japanese Government’s Blocking of Narita Slot Transfer
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), responding to the Japanese government’s threatened blocking of a transfer of slots between U.S. carriers at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, today required Japanese airlines to submit to DOT their all-cargo schedules for services to the United States.
The department stated that if this issue is not resolved quickly, it would consider denying rights to a Japanese carrier or carriers for some of its current U.S. service.
“The U.S. government abides by its obligations under international agreements, and we expect our partners to do the same,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said. “We will not hesitate to take action if the rights of U.S. air carriers are violated.”
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Delta Air Lines withdrew most of its service to Japan. As a result, it no longer had a use for many of its Narita slots, and arranged to transfer to FedEx slots it had obtained from them in early 1998. On February 25, the Japanese government notified DOT that it did not intend to permit the planned transfer of slots from Delta to FedEx and would put the slots in the pool for reallocation to other carriers.
In its response, DOT said that the proposed transfer was fully in accord with the 1998 U.S.-Japan aviation agreement as well as with international guidelines. It added that without such transfers, the 1998 agreement would not have been possible, since “non-incumbent” carriers such as Delta lacked slots to implement new services under the agreement. Failure to permit the transfer is viewed as a serious matter and could result in further actions being taken against Japanese carriers, the department said. A March 19 meeting between U.S. and Japanese officials in Washington failed to resolve the issue. Delta plans to return the slots to FedEx on March 31.
According to the department’s order, Japanese carriers must submit by March 22 the schedules of all of their all-cargo services to the United States.
The department order is available via the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov, docket number OST-02-11890.
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