Oneworld member American Airlines says it has paused its growth in China. This follows the removal of two new routes from its schedule – Seattle to Shanghai and Dallas to Beijing’s new Daxing Airport.
Over the pandemic American had already eliminated various routes from both Dallas and Los Angeles to China, alongside flights from both US airports to Hong Kong.
This makes Dallas-Shanghai the lone survivor in American’s China network. The service only resumed last month.
Dallas-Shanghai is currently scheduled four times a week onboard Boeing 777-200ER aircraft to October 28.
American had previously announced that it would return to Beijing from late March 2021 with Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft and fly to the new Daxing Airport instead of Capital Airport but China’s continued lockdown wreaked havoc with those plans.
Before flights were suspended during the pandemic, American and China Southern codeshared on flights beyond Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) and Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG).
American also had mooted plans during the pandemic for a Seattle-Shanghai 777-200ER route but this service, too, has been dropped for now.
Earlier this year trade association Airlines for America (A4A), of which American is a member, asked the US Transportation Department to extend the slot relief that has been in place since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020 to continue during the northern summer 2023 season to October 28.
The request covered routes to China and Japan and was approved. “International air travel to China remains severely depressed due to cumbersome, uncertain, and constantly evolving travel requirements and entry barriers,” A4A said at the time.
Without the waivers in place, airlines must operate at least 80 per cent of their scheduled flights from slot-restricted airports or else they risk losing them.