The U.S. Transportation Department announced yesterday that Houston-based Continental Airlines and Dallas-based AMR Corp.’s American Airlines have won a lively contest within the U.S. airline industry to offer additional non-stop flights to China.
Continental 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 beginning in April, 2006. Northwest Airlines Corp. and UAL Corp.’s United Airlines are the other U.S. airlines that are authorized to fly routes to the country.
Cargo shipments carrying goods from China to the U.S. have been leading the increase in air service between the two countries over the past several years. However, according to the DOT, passenger traffic between the U.S. and China rose over 35% from 2003 through November 2004. So, the new flights are consistent with Continental’s business strategy of emphasizing profitable international flights over less profitable domestic routes.