AA route hits air pocket

American Airlines on Tuesday called off plans for a big celebration at the city's airport where Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders were scheduled to greet the landing of its inaugural nonstop flight from Chicago to Beijing.

The Texas-based carrier cited a disagreement with Chinese aviation authorities over take-off and landing times in Beijing and rescheduled the new service for May 4 as it tries to resolve the dispute.

The cancellation of the flight is expected to delay American's efforts to seize the upper hand in the world's fastest-growing commercial aviation market, which is a key driver in the global aviation industry's recovery.

But the new route will remain grounded if American cannot reach an agreement with Chinese aviation officials about "commercially viable operating slots", the airline said in a statement.

"I don't want to speculate what might happen. But there is the possibility that more cancellations will happen if we do not get this resolved," said Theo Panagiotoulias, American's vice-president for the Pacific.

American had scheduled the Boeing 777 flight to arrive at Beijing Capital International Airport at 1:55 pm on Tuesday and depart Beijing later in the afternoon.

It said Chinese authorities only allowed the flight to land at 2:20 am and depart at 4:20 am from Beijing, Asia's busiest airport.

"Simply put, American has not received commercially viable landing and takeoff slots," the statement said.

The airline said it is currently rebooking customers on other flights to get them to their destinations. Customers are also being offered full refunds or the opportunity to travel on American at a later date.

American had sold about 240 seats on the inaugural flight from Chicago to Beijing and about the same number on the return flight, said Panagiotoulias.

"The booking on the route to Beijing is every encouraging, almost similar to our service to Shanghai where we have been operating for four years," he said.

American's Beijing-Chicago route, which won approval from the Chinese and US governments in 2007, was originally slated to begin last year.

But plunging traffic demand due to the global economic downturn forced the carrier to postpone the launch to this year. It has been operating daily flights between Chicago and Shanghai since 2006.

Officials from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) were not available for comment.

One analyst said that poor communication may be a factor in the slot dispute. "Every airline wants a good slot at the Beijing airport, which is busy and has slot constraints. American needs to have better communications with the CAAC," said Li Lei, an aviation analyst at CITIC China Securities.

"It is critical for the industry and aviation authorities to find more efficient solutions to help the airport achieve sustainable growth," Li said.

Beijing's airport became the world's fourth largest in terms of passenger traffic last year, with over 65 million travelers passing through the facility, up 16.8 percent over the previous year. Delta Air Lines, which is scheduled to launch flights from Seattle to Beijing on June 4, is conducting similar negotiations with the Chinese authorities over slot times.

Source: China Daily