ANA already has U.S. authority for that service if it wants to exercise it, said Bill Mosley, a Department of Transportation spokesman in Washington.

The airline has said several times that it wants to return to the Hawaii market after an absence of several years, but officials could not be reached today to confirm Nihon Keizai Shimbun's report.

The airline flew three Nagoya-Honolulu flights a week from September 1991 until March 1993, when it dropped out because of fierce competition from Japan Airlines and Northwest Airlines, each flying seven times a week.

Earlier this year, ANA said it was interested in starting new services to Hawaii from Tokyo and from the Kansai Airport at Osaka. Those routes would need new approvals by the U.S. and Japan governments, whose negotiations for a new bilateral passenger service agreement are stalled.

However, Mosley said ANA's U.S. approval of the Nagoya route is still in place as an exemption to the existing U.S.-Japan agreement. The Japanese newspaper said ANA plans to apply to Japan's Transport Ministry next month for approval from that end.

Japan Air System, another Japanese airline that once served Hawaii as a charter carrier but also dropped out, has also said it would like to get back into the market.

Paul Casey, president of the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, said in May that he had talked to both airlines in Japan and their interest in Hawaii was good news.

When airlines commit seat capacity to a market, they also commit promotional spending that generates new business, he said.

The failure of the two governments to agree on passenger aviation has also put on hold a planned partnership with Delta Air Lines in U.S. markets, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said.