American Airlines wins battle against Delta Airlines over flying rights to Tokyo’s Haneda airport

The battle between American Airlines Group and Delta airlines over the right to fly between Los Angeles and Tokyo’s Haneda airport has been solved in favour of American.

This happened after Federal regulators, the US Transportation Department, in a ruling, rejected the claims made by Delta Air Lines that the privilege be cancelled because American Airlines delayed starting daily flights in that route.

The ruling also set a deadline for American to start flights by March 27, 2016 to the Haneda airport. The American Airlines announced that its daily service to Haneda will start on Feb. 11, after securing the arrival and departure times from Japanese authorities.

“The department finds nothing on the record to suggest that, despite a brief startup delay, the anticipated benefits of American’s Los Angeles-Haneda service -– benefits that led the department to award it this authority –- will not be forthcoming,” the Transportation Department said in a ruling.

The regulators warned American that in the event of not starting the flights within the prescribed time, the Haneda route would be passed on to Hawaiian Airlines.

Lingering dispute

The ruling by the regulator puts to rest a year-long spat between the carriers over the route between the US and Tokyo’s Haneda. The latter is preferred by business travellers because of its proximity to the Japanese capital compared to Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, reports Skift.

Delta gave up the route to American in June 2015 after a tussle between the two airlines. But it challenged the rival in October saying it failed to start service within the mandatory 60 days and must surrender the route.

The dispute between Delta and American originated in December 2014, with American Airlines urging the US regulators to revoke the rival’s right to fly between Seattle and Haneda because the service was dormant.

Subsequently, the government gave notice to Delta asking it to retain the route only if it can fly on a daily basis. Delta objected to that condition as “draconian.” It later ceded the Seattle route mid-year, which was won by American to fly from Los Angeles. This was subsequently challenged by Delta and resolved now. There was no reaction from representatives of American or Delta on the new ruling.

Amends loyalty program

Meanwhile, American Airlines also altered the norms for its loyalty awards. Under the revised rules, the points will accrue only on the basis of amount of dollars being spent. It marks the end of frequent travellers’ using long trips to collect free tickets. With this step, the airline joined the league of Delta and United Airlines, reports Bloomberg.

Under the new plan, travellers get reward points for each dollar spent. They will run more credit with more miles in the AAdvantage program. American's frequent-flier program is the largest in the industry with 100 million members.

“Frequent-flier enthusiasts who accrue lots of miles and spend little money will be very upset by American’s change because, effectively, the game is now over,” noted Jay Sorensen, airline consultant and president of IdeaWorksCompany.com.

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