US Government talking points: US-Japan open skies agreement
US Department of Transportation (DoT) International Aviation Office head, Paul Gretch, issued the following US Government Talking Points by telephone to Japanese Transportation Counselor, Yoshiro Funabiki, last week:
USG TALKING POINTS
We are quite concerned about much of the recent press reports out of Tokyo indicating that the U.S. and Japan have agreed or prearranged approval of any ATI applications on any certain schedule.
As we have consistently said from the outset of the negotiations, the U.S. government is not in the business of picking or choosing partners for our carriers and we most certainly have not and can not make any guarantees that any or all applications for ATI would be approved by DOT, including the one currently before the Department.
In the U.S., each application for ATI is considered on a case-by-case basis and undergoes a rigorous competitive analysis before any preliminary judgments are made.
So that there is absolutely no misunderstanding: it is possible that one or more ATI applications by U.S. and Japanese carriers could be disapproved by DOT. There will be no prejudgment of these cases, either as to the substantive outcome or the schedule for a decision. Comments by MLIT officials suggesting otherwise are incorrect and very unhelpful.