Hawaiian gets OK
on Tokyo flights
It will be the first carrier
By Rob Perez
to offer nonstop Maui-Tokyo service
Star-BulletinHawaiian Airlines Inc. has received tentative approval to become the first carrier to offer nonstop service between Maui and Tokyo.
The U.S. Department of Transportation yesterday granted tentative authorization for 106 new flights each week between the United States and Japan, including the Maui-Tokyo service, under a recently renegotiated U.S.-Japan aviation pact.
Hawaiian Airlines' spokesman Keoni Wagner said the company expects final approval from the department after a 10-day public comment period.
If approval is granted, the daily flights would not start until the year 2000.
The carrier intends to fly 304-passenger DC-10s between Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Kahului Airport.
But the Maui airport's runway must be lengthened to accommodate the DC-10s on that route. The extension project is undergoing federal and state review.
Wagner said Hawaiian would become the only airline flying nonstop between Tokyo and Maui.
"We are delighted that the department has approved Hawaii's international flag carrier to open a new link between our state and Japan," said Paul J. Casey, the airline's chief executive. "This is good news for Hawaiian Airlines, for Maui and for the state of Hawaii."
Hawaiian has nonstop flights between Maui and the U.S. mainland on a seasonal basis. It currently offers daily service to and from Seattle, and the route is changed to San Francisco in the fall-winter period, Wagner said.
The tentative go-ahead for Hawaiian's Tokyo-Maui service was the only Hawaii flight among the 106 new weekly flights approved by the DOT. The other airlines getting a tentative nod for U.S.-Japan service are: American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and Trans World.
The new flights are a result of a Jan. 30 accord that updated a 46-year-old treaty governing U.S.-Japan air service.
The four-year deal grants United and Northwest airlines and Federal Express unlimited access to Japan and the right to fly to Japan from any U.S. city.
Japan's No. 2 carrier, All Nippon Airways, gained unrestricted rights to a number of U.S. destinations under the deal. Japan Airlines Co., the country's largest passenger carrier, already had unrestricted access to U.S. cities under the original agreement.
