Washington – Passenger flights between the U.S. and China will more than double by 2012 under an agreement reached Wednesday, setting the stage for fierce competition among carriers for these valuable transpacific routes and opening up more opportunity as Denver International Airport tries to attract Asia flights.
“This certainly helps the potential a lot in China,” said Sally Covington, a DIA deputy manager who traveled to China and Japan last month to continue talks for flights. A nonstop flight from Denver to Asia is probably at least a couple of years away, but the liberalized pact “will factor into our Asia strategy, no question about it.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters said the bilateral aviation agreement could stimulate $5 billion in revenue for U.S. airlines over the next several years. As part of the deal – which falls short of goals the Bush administration laid out last month – American air-cargo companies will gain virtually unlimited access to China.
Under the pact, U.S. carriers will be able to operate 23 daily round-trip flights by 2012, up from 10 currently. The agreement also allows the U.S. to designate three additional airlines to fly to China – at least one of them designated for cargo, transportation officials said.
China will have the right to fly the same number of flights to the United States, Peters said, and can designate an unlimited number of airlines to operate those flights.
Peters said the two countries agreed to begin talks in 2010 on a so-called “open skies” accord.
The routes are awarded based on where the Transportation Department believes new capacity is needed, as well as other factors, a department official said.
U.S. airlines did not waste any time in publicly pressing their bids.
Delta Air Lines chief operating officer Jim Whitehurst said in a written statement that the company is already seeking approval for a new route from Atlanta to Shanghai. The flight “would fill a critical void in air travel today by linking the 55 million people of the southeastern United States directly to one of the world’s fastest-growing economies,” Delta said.
Northwest, meanwhile, said the accord would allow new routes from its hubs in Detroit and Minneapolis that “Northwest urgently wants to offer its customers.” American, Continental and United currently fly nonstop to China.
Denver Post staff writer Kelly Yamanouchi contributed to this report.
