HONOLULU, March 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The tentative
decision issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation this
morning to allow Delta Air Lines to retain the valuable right to
fly from Tokyo's Haneda
International Airport for largely unused service to Seattle is tremendously disappointing.
We are further disappointed that the U.S. DOT has determined that
should Delta's planned service continue to fail, the Haneda slots
will be assigned to American Airlines.
Hawaiian is the only airline to have operated Haneda service
continuously and successfully since the slot rights were
granted. Our proposal provided more seats and would have
resulted in more travelers flying between Japan and the United
States than either Delta's or American's proposal.
Kona is the largest unserved market in this proceeding, and
Hawaiian's proposed route would have generated more economic
benefit than that offered by either Delta or American. None of
these facts are in dispute by the DOT.
Sadly, by dismissing Hawaiian's proposed Kona route as just
simply being additive to the routes already serving Hawaii, the DOT has once more failed to
appreciate the geography of the 50th state. Kona and
Honolulu are separate markets,
separate communities and indeed are located on separate
islands. The tentative ruling also reveals a long-held
institutional bias among decision makers favoring the interests of
U.S. business travelers over those of U.S. travel-related
businesses and travelers in general.
Hawaiian will be considering its next steps in this proceeding
in the coming days.
About Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian® has led all U.S.
carriers in on-time performance for each of the past 11 years
(2004-2014) as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Consumer surveys by Conde Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure and Zagat
have all ranked Hawaiian the highest of all domestic airlines
serving Hawai'i.
Now in its 86th year of continuous service, Hawaiian is
Hawai'i's biggest and longest-serving airline, as well as the
largest provider of passenger air service from its primary visitor
markets on the U.S. mainland. Hawaiian offers non-stop service to
Hawai'i from more U.S. gateway cities (11) than any other airline,
along with service from Japan,
South Korea, China, Australia, New
Zealand, American Samoa and
Tahiti. Hawaiian also provides approximately 160 jet flights daily
between the Hawaiian Islands, with a total of more than 200 daily
flights system-wide.
Hawaiian Airlines, Inc. is a subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings,
Inc. (NASDAQ: HA). Additional information is available at
HawaiianAirlines.com.
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SOURCE Hawaiian Airlines