Japan, U.S. Likely to Ink Open Skie Pact by Year-End

Tokyo, Nov. 30 (Jiji Press)--Japan and the United States are close to concluding an "open skies" agreement to liberalize their aviation markets.

The governments of the two countries are likely to sign the pact by
the end of the year at the earliest, so as to allow airlines set flight
fares, routes and volumes without interference by the governments, informed
sources said.
The deal should heat up the tug of war between U.S. carriers Delta
Air Lines and American Airlines to draw struggling Japan Airlines <9205>
into their camps, as the pact is expected to remove antitrust barriers for
big airlines of the two countries, the sources said.
All Nippon Airways <9202> and United Airlines, both members of the
same international airline consortium, are also likely to beef up their
alliance particularly for trans-Pacific services.
Through negotiations so far, aviation authorities of the two
countries have opened the skies to JAL, ANA, Nippon Cargo Airlines, Delta,
United and FedEx Corp., but not to American, the world's largest airline.
The sources also said the Japanese government plans to redress the
current imbalance in allocating landing slots at Narita International
Airport, near Tokyo, after the accord was signed.
At major airports in other countries, their domestic carriers have
some 50 pct of the total slots. But at Narita, Japanese firms hold only less
than 40 pct while U.S. slots account for nearly 30 pct.
When Narita increases its landing slots by 20,000 next March, the
government will allocate half the slots to be increased to domestic carriers
while curbing distribution to their U.S. rivals, the sources said.