Apparently Delta Air Lines and American Airlines have both lodged applications with the United States Department of Transportation to offer their customers services to Tokyo International Airport at Haneda. This is part of both airlines’ plots to break into the lucrative Asia marketplace.

American Airlines wants to offer services to Haneda from New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport. These are the two largest markets between the American mainland and Tokyo.

On this same note, Delta Air Lines wants to offer its passengers nonstop services from Seattle, Detroit, Los Angeles and Honolulu to Tokyo. Haneda is slated to be reopened to United States carriers for the first time since 1978 under a proposed new American aviation treaty with Japan.

For Delta Air Lines, who is the leading member of the SkyTeam Alliance, this is a very significant application. While both Star and Oneworld have Japanese partners, which offer these services to Japan, SkyTeam is presently unable to offer Japanese connections.

Delta Air Lines executive vice president for network and revenue management said that enabling Delta to enter Haneda is critical to advancing airline competition in Tokyo. This goes double considering the very strong presence of both Star and the Oneworld alliance.

However, American Airlines is also making a strong case for access. The carrier went on to applaud the Department of Transportation’s negotiations with Japan and allowing the new Open Skies arrangement to come together. The airline went on to say that they have long wanted to fly from New York and Los Angeles to Haneda.