Tokyo Haneda (HND) begins to open up - Why should you care?

I'll demonstrate in some simple graphical steps...

Tokyo and her airports


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In distance terms (driving) it's 82.5km from Narita, or 25.2km from Haneda - or in other words, 1 and a half hours vs 30 minutes or so.

Any way you cut it, that's a time saving.

Japan and the USA are starting to open up HND to long range traffic (with BA having a poke around too when an Open Skies agreement is reached with the UK), with American, Continental, Delta and United all piling in to bid for slots.. which are limited to a grand total of ... FOUR. 


Yup - FOUR SLOT IN TOTAL.

The expressions of interest have lead to the following annoucing their plans:

American: JFK to LAX to HND
Continental: EWR to HND, GUM to HND
Delta: SEA/DTW/HNL to HND
United: SFO to HND

HND has the potential to really grow again with the proximity to downtown Tokyo - but in relation to the amount of slots available vs the airlines... How can I put this politely? 

Sit back - Bun fight approaching!