Delta Air Lines hopes to add new service to Shanghai Pudong from its
Minneapolis/St Paul hub in 2020, even as American Airlines plans to put
two of its China routes on hold.
The SkyTeam Alliance carrier
plans to launch a new daily flight between Minneapolis and Shanghai with
a 306-seat Airbus A350-900 from June 2020, it says in an application to
the US Department of Transportation today. It would need seven US-China
zone one frequencies, which limit service to Beijing, Guangzhou and
Shanghai, for the route.
Zhangjiajie flights
"The
proposed flights will provide Minneapolis and St Paul area customers
with the first nonstop service to China and enhance service at Delta’s
hub at MSP, expanding connecting service options for consumers across
the Upper Midwest and the United States," says Delta in its application.
The
new service would also connect to the networks of Delta's partners
China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines beyond Pudong airport. The
US carrier owns a 3.5% stake in China Eastern that it acquired in 2015.
Delta's
proposed Minneapolis-Shanghai route is possible with the three
frequencies returned by Hawaiian Airlines earlier this month, and the
three frequencies returned by United Airlines earlier this year.
Hawaiian ended Honolulu-Beijing flights and United Guam-Shanghai
flights.
The Atlanta-based carrier says its 20-month launch
timeline, which is far longer than the DOT's standard three-month
timeline, is a "realistic approach" to acquiring economically viable
slots at Shanghai Pudong. Both American and United have previously had
to seek multiple start-up extensions as they faced challenges acquiring
slots at Beijing and Shanghai airports.
As Delta seeks
frequencies for additional service to China, American has applied to the
DOT for a waiver to keep 14 zone one frequencies it used for daily
service between Chicago O'Hare and both Beijing and Shanghai for a year
while it waits for economic conditions to improve. It suspended both
routes this month following what it says were heavy losses over multiple
years in the markets.
Rapid capacity growth between China and
the USA in recent years has pushed yields down in the market. However,
growth began to abate this year as both Chinese and US carriers used all
of the available frequencies for service between Beijing, Guangzhou and
Shanghai and the USA.
Capacity between China and the USA grew
6.1% in 2018 compared to 9.1% in 2017, FlightGlobal schedules data
shows. In the first half of 2019, capacity is scheduled to decrease 1%
after a 7.4% during the same period this year.
Delta president
Glen Hauenstein said earlier this month that the airline's China routes
saw a 9% improvement in unit revenues on an 18% capacity increase during
the third quarter. The airline relaunched daily flights between its
Atlanta base and Shanghai in July.
American says retaining its 14
frequencies through November 2019 would allow it to "rapidly resume
those services… at such time the market becomes more favourable".
The Wall