Bitterness in the Air

The Japanese, who still put great store by face, have begun to argue in recent years that many of their economic treaties with the U.S. are "unequal" because they were made when Japan was weak and conquered. This year the Japanese decided to take a much tougher stand in discussing economic issues with the U.S. Last week this tougher stand led to a squabble about air rights into the U.S.

The U.S. permits Japan Air Lines to land in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, in return gets rights for Pan American and Northwest Airlines to fly into Tokyo and beyond to Southeast Asia. For four years Japan has wanted to rewrite its air treaty with the U.S. to make Japan Air Lines the third foreign line (after Australia's Qantas and Britain's BOAC) to fly coast to coast across the U.S. to New York. The reason is obvious: Japan Air Lines could then begin to tap the rich transatlantic market. Japan wants to be able to fly into New York both over the Great Circle route and via the West Coast.

The U.S. is willing to give the Japanese one route into New York and beyond, in return has asked for a route into the new Japanese airport at Osaka and other routes beyond Tokyo. It also wants the Japanese to give up one of their three West Coast stops and their unused rights to fly on to Latin America from Los Angeles. Japan is willing to open up Osaka and compromise on U.S. routes beyond Tokyo, but it flatly turns down all U.S. requests that it give up coastal landing rights or settle for only one New York route.

The differences could not be ironed out, and the U.S. and Japan have just "recessed" negotiations for a new air treaty for now. The Japanese are bitter over the impasse, and some trade officials even talked of scrapping the 13-year-old air agreement with the U.S. Few U.S. negotiators feel that matters will ever come to that: Japan Air Lines already derives half of its overseas revenue from its U.S. traffic.

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