American Airlines sharply cutting Asia routes from O'Hare
https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2018/08/21/american-airlines-sharply-cutting-asia-routesfrom.html
American Airlines moved Tuesday to slash service to China and Japan from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD), as the world’s largest carrier said it has proved difficult, if not impossible, to turn a profit on several Asian routes operating out of O’Hare.
Effective Oct. 26, American will end nonstop service to both Shanghai and Beijing from O’Hare. AA previously announced plans to drop Beijing, but the Shanghai news is just out today.
Also, American will drop seasonal nonstop service to Manchester, England from ORD, as it continues to focus on all-Dreamliner nonstop service to London’s Heathrow Airport from ORD.
American, on a brighter note, also said it would launch nonstop daily seasonal service from ORD to Athens, Greece on a Boeing 787-Dreamliner starting May 3, 2019.
American had operated the soon-to-end Shanghai route since 2006 and the Beijing route since 2010. Both routes operated daily from ORD, but an AA spokeswoman conceded today that neither route has ever made money.
Vasu Raja, vice president of network and schedule planning for American, went further and called the carrier’s losses on the two routes “colossal” and suggested that dropping these two routes would boost the profitability of AA’s Chicago hub at O’Hare “well above average” compared to other hubs in AA’s route system.
An American spokeswoman said the carrier hopes to apply for the right to hold on to the routes in "dormant" mode, allowing for the possibility the service might be reinstated at a later date.
Along with the end of American’s service to the two major Chinese markets, the carrier said it would reduce the current daily service to Tokyo’s Narita Airport (NRT) from ORD to three times a week from the current daily service, effective Dec. 18, 2018.
Japan Airlines, AA’s OneWorld global airline alliance partner, will continue to operate daily service between Chicago and NRT, and will boost that frequency to 14 times a week next summer to provide twice daily service between ORD and NRT during the peak summer travel season.
The sharp cutback in American’s service to Asia leaves Chicago-based United Airlines, a unit of United Continental Holdings (NYSE: UAL), as the only U.S.-based carrier operating nonstop from Chicago to Asia.
United currently serves Tokyo, Shanghai and Beijing with daily nonstops from ORD.
A United spokesman this afternoon had this to say of United's service from ORD to Asia: "Our service between Chicago and Asia continues to meet our expectations. We are pleased with the performance of our flights between Chicago and Asia and remain firmly committed to providing our customers nonstop, daily, year-round service between our Chicago hub and Asia, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo."
In recent years, however, most of United’s expansion in Asia and the South Pacific has been from its hubs at San Francisco International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, as the carrier continues to tout that it is the U.S.-based carrier with the most extensive Asia-Pacific route network
Meanwhile, American’s Vasu Raja said American would focus its Asian service going forward out of hubs at Dallas Ft. Worth International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport.
As for the launch of nonstop service to Athens, Greece from Chicago, an AA spokeswoman said the carrier decided to add the route based on the success of new nonstop service to both Barcelona, Spain, and Venice, Italy from ORD.