The US Department of Transportation (DOT) has proposed to approve United Airlines’ application to serve Tokyo’s downtown Haneda Airport from San Francisco International airport in California ahead of an application by Hawaiian Airlines to serve the Japanese airport from Kona, Hawaii.

The Department launched a proceeding to award the newly available Haneda opportunity after American Airlines informed DOT that it would be ending its New York-Haneda service at the end of last year. Under a US-Japan agreement, US airlines may operate a total of four daily round-trip flights per day at Haneda Airport, where operations are limited.

Up until now the four flights have been operated by Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu; Delta Air Lines from Los Angeles and Seattle; and, until December 2013, American Airlines from New York (JFK). The Department has now tentatively determined that United’s San Francisco-Haneda service proposal would “provide the best use of the one available opportunity”.

DOT tentatively found that United’s proposal “would introduce a new US carrier at Haneda” and would “promote competition” by giving business and leisure travelers “an additional choice for connecting service to Haneda” via United’s well-established San Francisco hub.

A final ruling will be announced in the coming weeks after DOT analyses any objections to its tentative ruling. A deadline of March 10, 2014 has been set for all official objections with a March 17, 2014 date for all answers from the DOT to be completed.