DOT Awards United D.C.-Beijing Route

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DOT Awards United D.C.-Beijing Route

By Jay Boehmer

JANUARY 22, 2007 -- The U.S. Department of Transportation this month awarded United Airlines authority to add nonstop service between Washington, D.C., and Beijing, following concerted efforts among several major domestic carriers to gain the single available U.S.-China slot. United said the route will launch within 90 days of DOT's final order.

American, Continental, Northwest and United airlines last year launched efforts to secure the nonstop route authority through lobbying campaigns, Web sites in support of their applications and petitions that show governmental and corporate backing for their route proposals (BTN, Oct. 9, 2006). American initially sought service between its Dallas/Fort Worth hub to Beijing, Continental asked authorities for a Newark-Shanghai route and Northwest filed for authority to fly between Detroit and Shanghai.

United's "Capital to Capital" campaign, however, won out, and expects to launch service on a 347-seat Boeing 747-400 with three classes of service. The carrier said Washington, D.C., is "by far the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. without direct service to China."

Foregoing its own bid for route authority, codeshare partner US Airways supported United's application, which will permit US Airways customers "access to the China market," United said in a statement. Additionally, United said codeshare arrangements with Air China and Shanghai Airlines offer other connections.

DOT awarded American and Continental the most recent China slots, allowing American last April to launch daily nonstop service from Chicago to Shanghai and Continental in June 2005 to launch nonstop service from Newark to Beijing. United operates nonstop service between Beijing and San Francisco and Chicago. Northwest said it was the only one applying for DOT approval that does not have a nonstop passenger flight between the U.S. and China, but does offer service to mainland China via Japan.

The International Air Transport Association predicts average annual growth of nearly 10 percent for international traffic into China between 2005 and 2009 and 14.4 percent growth in freight.

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