American Airlines will remove nonstop flights from Chicago to Shanghai from its schedule beginning October due to unprofitability stemming from higher fuel cost which climbed to more than 30 percent since 2017.
The last westbound flight will be on Oct. 26 and the last eastbound flight will be on Oct. 27, American Airlines said in a statement. All customers who reserved these dates will be re-accommodated on other flights to Shanghai directly from the Dallas Fort Worth and Los Angeles International Airport. They can also be accommodated on flights from Chicago via Narita Airport in partnership with Japan Airlines.
Vasu Raja, vice president of Network and Schedule Planning, explained that the airlines' Chicago-Shanghai route is no longer making profits as compared to other services. Nevertheless, American assured its commitment to Asia and will see to it that the decision is only temporary. In fact, the airlines will file a dormancy waiver from the U.S. Department of Transportation to allow the airlines a return to the route once fuel prices become affordable once more.
The American Airlines has actually decided to remove a total of 11 overseas routes aside from flights to Shanghai. It discontinued Philadelphia-Munich flights, Los Angeles-Toronto, and flights connecting New York's John F. Kennedy International with Dublin and Edinburgh.
American is also reducing flights between Chicago and Narita Airport to three days a week starting Dec 18. from the current everyday service. During the peak season between June and August, Japan Airlines will accommodate more travelers to compensate for fewer flights coming from Chicago.
On the other hand, American saw potential in several seasonal European routes. The airlines have added nine additional flights between Philadelphia and Berlin, Bologna and Italy, and Dubrovnik and Croatia. It also opened a flight servicing travelers flying from Phoenix to London. These flights will start in June next year and will last until September. Raja said the management has seen an increased interest to these market from the U.S. fliers hence the new flight options.
American Airlines is not the only company that is enduring impacts of high aviation fuel cost. Hawaiian Airlines was also forced to stop its three times a week nonstop flights to Beijing in October. United Airlines ended a route between Hangzhou and San Francisco in 2017 and instead opened 12 daily flights between U.S. airports and China and Hong Kong.
Delta Airlines, meanwhile, can sustain its seven daily flights to China since it has codeshare and equity partnership with China Eastern Airlines.
Mike Boyd, president of aviation forecaster Boyd Group, told Reuters that Chinese airlines are the ones that are at an advantageous position in the market at present. Chinese passengers coming to the United States are expected to increase from 4.3 million in 2018 to an estimated 12.8 million in 2024.
