ANA Gets 4 Haneda Slots against 2 for JAL

Tokyo, April 26 (Jiji Press)--Japan's transport ministry said Tuesday it has given ANA Holdings Inc.'s (TYO:9202) All Nippon Airways four takeoff and landing slots for flights between Japan and the United Stated using Tokyo International Airport at Haneda. The move came after Tokyo and Washington in February agreed to allocate six slots each to Japanese and U.S. airlines for flights between the two countries using the airport. Rival Japan Airlines (TYO:9201) received the remaining two slots, the ministry said. The ministry gave more slots to ANA in an effort to ensure fair competition as JAL emerged from bankruptcy with the help of the government. The two Japanese airlines aim to start operating services using the new slots at the end of October. The four late night and early morning slots previously held by the airlines--two each for ANA and JAL--were moved to daytime slots between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. In addition, ANA received one slot each for daytime and late night and early morning. ANA plans to consider launching daytime flights linking Haneda with New York and Chicago, in addition to flights connecting Haneda to Los Angeles and Honolulu that are offered at present in late night and early morning.Copyright JIJI PRESS LTD.