TWA plans to enter new pact at own speed

Staff writer

Trans World Airlines Inc. is not rushing in to take advantage of the recent civil aviation framework agreement between Japan and the United States, but will wait a while to make the most of it, according to William F. Compton, president of the fifth-largest U.S. carrier.

"We want to enter the service correctly. We believe that we need to spend some time getting Japanese people to know the TWA name," said Compton, who visited Japan this week. "We want to make sure this is a success. We don't want to rush in to an implementation."

The carrier, based in St. Louis, plans to launch seven nonstop flights a week between Tokyo and the U.S. city with a Boeing 767-200ER aircraft, starting from June 1999, Compton said.

The civil aviation agreement reached by the Japanese and U.S. governments in January enables TWA, which was founded in 1925, to return to Japan after a more than 25-year gap, Compton said.

The four-year transitional agreement allows a new U.S. carrier to enter the bilateral market before 2000 and adds one more U.S. carrier after that year. Currently, four U.S. carriers -- Northwest Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines -- offer passenger service between Japan and the mainland U.S.

Compton expects an approval on TWA's entry into the market from the U.S. Department of Transportation within 30 days because the carrier is so far the only one applying for the aviation rights.

The St. Louis area, where TWA's hub airport is located, has a potential market of business customers, giving TWA an advantage in competing against other carriers currently ahead of TWA in the market, Compton said. "We have a very large concentration of corporations in St. Louis doing business in Japan. We also have a large presence of Japanese companies in our area. We have a strong domestic feeder network and flights to Europe. We operate from St. Louis to 104 cities," Compton said.

The carrier also has plans to fly from Tokyo to Orlando, Fla., via St. Louis to carry Japanese visitors to the major tourist destination, Compton said.

Prior to the introduction of that service, TWA plans to launch daily flights through code-sharing with Delta between Tokyo and Los Angeles as well as between Portland, Ore., and Osaka, Compton said.