Local leaders back Delta on Japan airport access

Minnesota's business and political leaders are lining up behind Delta Air Lines' efforts to shape U.S. negotiations with Japan over air service.

The carrier says that changes now underway in Japan could doom its daily nonstop flight from the Twin Cities to Tokyo.

For decades, Narita International Airport outside Tokyo was Northwest Airlines' primary Asian hub, which Delta inherited through its 2008 merger with Northwest. Minnesota businesses consider the nonstop service between MSP and Narita a strategic asset.

"It gives us a unique leg up in the national competitive market," said Doug Loon, president of the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce. "It's a vital link to Asia. Asia offers tremendous commercial opportunities for U.S. companies."

And Minnesota is home to many big companies with interests and sales in Asia.

"Forty percent of the employees in Minnesota work for large companies like Target, 3M, Medtronic, Cargill or Polaris," said Charlie Weaver, executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership. "And a lot of them do business in Asia. It's one of the fastest-growing markets. And that's all good for Minnesota's economy."

Now the Japanese government wants to gradually ramp up trans-Pacific daytime service to the Haneda Airport, which is quite close to Tokyo's downtown and a much more attractive option than Narita.

Delta is raising alarms about getting squeezed out and not having enough landing slots at Haneda. The carrier is worried about being stuck at Narita while the international action is moving to Haneda.

Delta said if the U.S. and Japanese governments agree on the current plan, passengers traveling to Japan will switch to rival carriers. So many would switch that nonstop service from the Twin Cities to Tokyo would not be viable, according to Delta.

Despite the local outcry, only about two dozen people a day from the Twin Cities fly that route. The rest of the passengers come from other markets to catch the flight.

Still, the state's political leaders are lining up to support Delta's effort to get the landing slots it wants at Haneda — or, failing that, to maintain the status quo. U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, D-Minn., and Gov. Mark Dayton are meeting with U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to press the case.

Unless Delta gets enough slots to fly passengers from Haneda throughout Asia, Klobuchar said, rival airlines will have a huge competitive advantage.

"Simply because they have partners and they can transfer the passengers to these other airlines," she said. "And then people will choose to fly those airlines over Delta. Thus our route goes down in the swamp."

Fellow Democrat Rep. Betty McCollum of St. Paul is also working on the issue.

"We want to make sure that we're not allowing the Japanese government to pick winners and losers in the airline industry, which can affect our businesses in Minnesota," she said.

Aviation industry consultant Michael Boyd said that given a choice, international passengers would flock to Haneda. Delta's not bluffing about the Twin Cities flight going away, he said.

"What Delta is asking for, really, is the help of Minnesota to keep service from Minnesota to Japan, because if they don't get what they're looking for, they're going to have to cut back," he said.

And cuts would likely come elsewhere, too. Delta said that if Haneda opens up on the piecemeal basis now on the table, the airline will drop nonstop flights to Tokyo from six other cities, including Los Angeles and New York.