Clinton seeking
Japan air deal
The United States is pressing
From staff and wire reports
to end barriers to trans-Pacific flightsWASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration pledged to push for a new aviation agreement with Japan that ends all barriers to trans-Pacific air service, a key issue for Northwest Airlines. Northwest prefers that the administration maintain the current agreement -- under which Northwest and United Airlines are the only U.S. carriers with hubs in Japan -- or negotiate a new pact that completely deregulates the market. A third of Northwest's revenue is from Asia service.
The administration is seeking "a fully liberalized open-skies" agreement "within a reasonable time frame," Charles Hunnicutt, the Transportation Department's assistant secretary for aviation, told a Senate panel yesterday.
Airline officials say Hawaii has a lot at stake in the U.S.-Japan negotiations. A number of U.S. and Japanese airlines say they want additional Hawaii-Japan flights but are limited by the existing agreement. All Nippon Airways, for example, is limited to daily Nagoya-Honolulu service and says it would operate many more Hawaii flights if allowed to do so.
Hawaii also has been used as a bargaining chip in the dispute. In January, Northwest Airlines said Japan Airlines should be denied additional Tokyo-Kona flights unless Northwest gets additional rights to fly from Japan to other Asian destinations. JAL won its additional Kona flights anyway.
In Denver, President Clinton met with Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto but made no progress on the open-skies issue, said Dan Tarullo, deputy director of the National Economic Council. Clinton and Hashimoto are attending a meeting of the largest industrialized nations.
Northwest's competitors say the administration is too rigid. "Japan is prepared to deal. The entire industry realizes this fact," said Gerald Baliles, a lobbyist for a coalition of Northwest's competitors and the cities they serve.
"All but one airline (Northwest) want the U.S. government to make a deal, a big deal with Japan now. It's hard to imagine the conditions being any better."
