TOKYO, Sept. 13, 2007 – Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) will be able to make Asia even more accessible to travelers and shippers thanks to an agreement reached today between the U.S. Departments of State and Transportation and the government of Japan.
Today’s agreement, which concludes four years of negotiations, will amend and further liberalize the U.S.-Japan bilateral air services agreement. It takes important steps toward achieving a more liberalized air services framework between the two nations – steps that will benefit U.S. and Japanese airlines and better enable Delta and its U.S. SkyTeam partner airlines to compete in and beyond Japan. This is the first time since 1998 that the U.S.-Japan agreement has been modified.
“Delta applauds the U.S. and Japanese governments for reaching an agreement that affords Delta and its U.S. SkyTeam partners the ability to offer greater choice of services to our customers flying between the United States and Japan and beyond to other Asian countries,” said Sametta Barnett, director for Government Affairs for Delta. “Under this new accord, Delta will now have greater flexibility to place its code and sell services operated by its partners and vice versa.”
Delta offers nonstop flights from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport to Tokyo’s Narita airport and to Seoul’s Incheon airport.
Other tenets of the agreement for U.S. carriers include expanded rights for all cargo carriers, improved rules governing the processing of tariff filings, and an agreement to resume talks in summer 2008 with an eye toward further liberalizing the agreement.
“Delta looks forward for future bilateral aviation talks between the two countries that seek to further liberalize the agreement,” Barnett added.
Delta Air Lines operates service to more destinations than any global airline with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 315 destinations in 54 countries. Since 2005, Delta has added more international capacity than all other major U.S. airlines combined and is a leader across the Atlantic with flights to 36 trans-Atlantic markets. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers nearly 400 weekly flights to 54 destinations. Delta's marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on nearly 15,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 477 worldwide destinations in 103 countries. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes and check flight status at delta.com.
