Continental, American Airlines Are Awarded Direct China Flights
Continental Airlines and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines won a hotly contested battle to offer direct flights to China, U.S. Department of Transportation officials announced.
Continental's successful bid to become the first U.S. passenger carrier to offer daily, direct flights to China from the New York metropolitan area was widely expected. However, American Airlines' successful argument that increased competition in Chicago outweighed the benefits of Delta Air Lines' plan to offer direct service from Atlanta to China was a huge win for American.
Continental, based in Houston, will offer a daily, 13-hour nonstop flight to Beijing from Newark Liberty International Airport later this year while American will offer daily nonstop flights from Chicago to Shanghai on April 2, 2006. American will become the fourth U.S. passenger carrier to fly to China, joining Continental, Northwest Airlines Corp. and UAL Corp.'s United Airlines.
"This award for new service starting in 2006 will be a big breakthrough for us in the Asian market," said American Chairman and Chief Executive Gerard J. Arpey, who added that American has wanted to fly to China for more than five years.
The airline lost a previous battle in 2000 to offer flights there to United Parcel Service Inc., which yesterday was one of four cargo carriers that received three additional flights to China in 2006 from government officials.
American Airlines' proposal to offer nonstop daily service to Shanghai from Chicago was hampered by United Airlines' decision to offer the same service last year. However, transportation officials noted the U.S.-China market "lacks strong U.S. carrier competition" in awarding the flights to American over Delta, which argued service was needed in the Southeastern U.S.
Officials at Delta, which campaigned heavily for its bid, said DOT's decision ran counter to the government's record of opening new gateways to underserved regions of the country.
"We are bitterly disappointed and at a total loss to understand why Atlanta, the world's largest passenger operation, and the Southeast still have no direct service to China, while Chicago will have three daily nonstops. That puts the score at Chicago 3, Atlanta 0," Delta spokesman Anthony Black said.
Under the terms of the U.S. agreement with the Chinese, Continental could begin flights as early as March 25. However, prolonged deliberation by DOT officials, which led to the announcement more than a month later than expected, could prevent Continental from beginning service that soon. The airline declined to say yesterday when it would begin its China flights.
The new flights were the product of a six-year liberalization agreement reached with China last summer, which will allow U.S. passenger and cargo carriers to fly almost five times as many direct flights there by 2010, or 249 weekly flights.
Air service between the countries has increased dramatically over the past few years, particularly for cargo flights carrying goods from China to the U.S.
Passenger traffic between the U.S. and China rose 36% from 2003 through November 2004, according to DOT.
大陆航空和美利坚航空获准直飞中国
美国运输部(Department of Transportation)官员宣布，大陆航空公司(Continental Airlines Inc)和AMR Corp.旗下的美利坚航空公司(American Airlines)在激烈的竞争中脱颖而出，获准开通直飞中国的航班。
由此，大陆航空成为第一家开通每日从纽约直飞中国航班的美国航空公司，这也在人们的普遍预料之中。美利坚航空的夺魁也有著充分的理由，它提出，给芝加哥地区带来新的竞争比达美航空公司(Delta Air Lines)开通从亚特兰大直飞中国的计划意义更为重大。
今年晚些时候，总部位于休斯敦的大陆航空每天都将开通从纽瓦克自由国际机场(Newark Liberty International Airport)连续飞行13个小时直达北京的航班。而美利坚航空将从2006年4月2日起每天都将开通芝加哥至上海的直飞航班。继大陆航空、西北航空公司(Northwest Airlines Corp.)、UAL Corp.旗下的联合航空公司(United Airlines)之后，美利坚航空将成为第四家进入中国市场的美国航空公司。
美利坚航空的董事长兼首席执行长杰拉德?阿佩(Gerard J. Arpey)表示，在2006年开通直飞中国的航班是公司在开拓亚洲市场方面取得的重大突破。阿佩称，早在5年多前，美利坚航空就有意开通中国航线。
美利坚航空在2000年的竞争中败给了联合包裹运送服务公司(United Parcel Services)。后者在22日获准在2006年新增3个飞往中国的航班，同样获此殊荣的还有其他3家货运航空公司。
联合航空去年决定开辟芝加哥直飞上海航班的举动令希望开通同一航线的美利坚航空遭到打击。但运输部官员指出在决定在美利坚航空和达美航空中选择美利坚时指出，中美航线上缺乏大公司间的激烈竞争。达美航空提出，有必要开通一条从美国东南部地区飞往中国的航线。
达美航空的管理人士表示，运输部的决定与政府有关优先在服务缺乏地区增加航班的一贯做法背道而驰。
达美航空的发言人安东尼?布莱克(Anthony Black)表示，公司对政府的决定感到十分失望，并且对全球最大的客运中心亚特兰大地区及整个东南部地区没有一个直飞中国的航班、而芝加哥却有3个直飞航班感到不解。
根据中美航空协定的安排，大陆航空本来最早可于3月25日开通直飞中国的航班。但运输部的反复考虑导致公布结果的时间比预定计划晚了一个月，因此大陆航空有可能无法在3月25日之前做好直飞中国的准备。
在中美航线上开设新的航班是去年夏天两国政府在6年的市场开放谈判之后取得的成果。根据双方达成的协议，到2010年，往返于中美两国间的客运和货运直飞航班将比现在增加近四倍，达到每周249班。
过去几年，中美两国间的航空运输往来增长迅速，中国飞往美国的货运航班数量增幅尤为明显。
两地间的客运往来也呈上升势头。运输部的数据显示，2003年至2004年11月期间，往返于中美两国的客运量增长了36%。
