American Airlines and Japan Airlines to commence trans-Pacific joint business early 2011

American Airlines and Japan Airlines, members of the oneworld alliance, thanked (10-Nov-2010) the US Department of Transportation (DoT) for granting final approval to their joint request for antitrust immunity and plans for a joint business between North America and Asia. Both airlines anticipate launching the trans-Pacific business in early 2011. American plans to launch daily service between New York JFK and Tokyo Haneda on 20-Jan-2010 while JAL commenced service from Haneda to San Francisco in late Oct-2010. Both carriers will codeshare on the flights. [more]

American Airlines: "We appreciate the thorough review that DoT has given our request for antitrust immunity that will allow us to move forward with our joint business. We also look forward to officials from the United States government and the government of Japan signing an Open Skies agreement, which will allow for additional flights between the United States to Japan," Tom Horton, President. Source: Company Statement, 10-Nov-2010.

Japan Airlines: "This final US government approval, following the recent grant by Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, clears all regulatory procedures necessary for Japan Airlines and American Airlines to begin working on our joint business. We would like to express our gratitude to everyone involved in making this positive decision, and will from hence, move expeditiously towards creating more benefits for our passengers, our companies, our financial supporters and our countries," Masaru Onishi, President. Source: Company Statement, 10-Nov-2010.