[photopress:American_Airlines.jpg,full,alignright]American Airlines will make a bid to fly a new non-stop daily route between Chicago and Beijing in 2009. Under a Sino-US aviation deal signed last month, US carriers can add four daily round-trip flights between the United States and China in 2009.
The US Department of Transportation decides which airlines to award the flights. If the bid is successful, AA will use a 245-seat Boeing 777 aircraft with a three-class configuration, and will start the flight on March 25, 2009.
The major point is that if there are not serious changes in the airline industry of China or a spate of joint ventures then there will be no competition from the Chinese side.
At the moment China’s commercial airlines are very far back from being international carriers. Forget comparing them with SIA which is the class act and snooty with it. Compare, instead, simple airlines like, say, Qantas and British Airways. No passenger with any experience would chose a Chinese carrier over them. Not unless the price was very low which would force the airline into backpacker territory.
This is one of the few areas in China were it is possible to say it is not competing internationally. Indeed, it barely competes at all.
Source: Shanghai Daily