Salt Lake City has made a sizable investment in its new airport terminal designed for international flights. All it needs now are some international flights.
In the struggle for recognition on the foreign-travel scene, the city chose the "Field of Dreams" approach. It built the facility first, believing the flights would come - a bold, and correct, strategy. But it won't be hailed as successful until someone actually awards the airport a nonstop foreign flight.That's why a group known as "Access U.S.-Japan" deserves support. It is a coalition of business, civic, labor and airline leaders that is trying to put enough pressure on the Clinton administration to change a 44-year-old agreement that limits the number of flights from the United States to Japan.
The reasoning goes like this: If the free market were allowed to determine the number of flights between the two countries, travel would increase, fares would decrease and more U.S. cities would be eligible for nonstop flights.
It's a sound premise. Naturally, the group's efforts can't guarantee any nonstop flights from Salt Lake City to Tokyo. Ultimately, the Clinton administration - or whichever administration is in power at the time - would award routes.
Unfortunately, sound reasoning doesn't always carry the most weight in such matters. More than two years ago Clinton officials ignored strong evidence of demand for a Salt Lake City to London route and decided instead to give two London flights as political rewards to Tennessee and North Carolina. Both routes ultimately failed.
But Salt Lake City's chances of gaining overseas routes increase as more routes become available. Utah's business interests would prosper from any nonstop flight to a major foreign city, particularly one that offers as many high-tech opportunities as Tokyo. Once one international route succeeds, Salt Lake City is bound to receive more.
The U.S.-Japan group is not without its detractors. Chief among them are United and Northwest airlines, the two U.S. carriers that currently dominate the travel market between the two nations. They note that Access U.S.-Japan is financed in part by Delta and American airlines, two carriers that want a larger share of the Japanese market. They also worry the United States would trade away the right for U.S. flights to continue on from Japan to other Asian countries - a right granted in the 1952 agreement, and one to which Japan objects.
Neither argument is convincing. No one in the access group or the Clinton administration has suggested eliminating the right for flights to continue to other destinations, nor should they. And no one should fault major airlines for wanting to expand their business opportunities.
Free-market principles are clear on this one. Allowing demand to dictate the number of flights between the United States and Japan would help the economies of both nations and of all airlines involved, and it would make travel more affordable for the average person. The access group estimates a $9 billion benefit to the U.S. economy.
Japan has never been a champion of free markets. Whether its government would agree to additional flights without major concessions is unclear. But the Clinton administration ought to at least try. The benefits of a more open travel market to Japan could be enormous for Utah.