Bureaus Exclusive

American Airlines, Japan Airlines join hands on China routes

By Chen Qide (China Daily Shanghai Bureau)
Updated: 2011-04-09 10:15

SHANGHAI – The Chinese government has approved American Airlines (AA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) to join on air routes for China by selling each other's air tickets and sharing revenue, Theo Panagiotoulias, vice president of American Airlines Pacific, said on Thursday.

AA launched a new not-stop daily service between Los Angeles and Shanghai on Wednesday by using new Boeing 777 aircraft to echo its cooperation with JAL on the trans-Pacific air routes.

Local insiders said the move is expected to put a new challenge on Chinese carriers.

The new cooperation which starts this month will provide more choice and service for passengers on the Sino-US air routes to share their respective advantage, said Panagiotoulias, adding that the two airlines will also enjoy more gains from it.

``The launch of the new flight will provide much needed support to the thriving US-China air travel market,'' said he.

He said the two countries enjoy a close relationship which will be reinforced by the opening of the new non-stop service.

Panagiotoulias said the cooperation includes AA flights from Beijing to Chicago, Shanghai to Chicago and Los Angeles. JAL can also sell air tickets for these flights.

The launch of AA's third route to China happened to fall on the airline's 5th anniversary of entering China. Its inaugural Chicago-Shanghai route began in April 2006 and its Chicago-Beijing route was launched last year.