American Launching DFW-PEK Service Summer 2015
American Airlines announced today that they have applied to launch their 11th route from the United States to Asia. The airline has applied with the U.S. Department of Transportation to begin flying from Dallas to Beijing (DFW-PEK) beginning next summer.
Beijing will become the fifth Asian city served by American from DFW, joining Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo & Seoul. The route will be served by 777-200 aircraft which American announced earlier this year will be retrofitted with lie-flat business class seats along with all new in flight entertainment systems and wifi.
Analysis
As American continues to grow their Asian presence, OneWorld becomes even more competitive in that region. With Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Sri Lankan Airlines & Malaysian Airlines, they arguably have the best route network in the area. This just makes it easier to get there.
Head over to American’s site for the full press release.
Is Israel Next
American Airlines announced yesterday that their partnership agreement with El Al will end as of November 1, 2014. Tickets purchased on or after that date will not earn Aadvantage miles.
While American doesn’t currently have any routes to Israel, U.S. Airways does fly from Philadelphia to Tel Aviv. Several industry insiders have speculated that the end of the El Al partnership makes it likely that American will soon announce new routes from both New York & Miami to Tel Aviv.
This rumor has been mentioned on Flyertalk and I have also read it on Miami news site exMiami. With the end of the El Al partnership I would be surprised if the rumor is not true. Miami is a huge Jewish market and one that I am sure will be lucrative for American.
If they do launch service from New York, I wouldn’t expect the U.S. Airways Philadelphia route to stick around long term. It seems that New York is a much better starting point for such a flight.
So what do you think? Are you excited about the new flight from Dallas to Beijing or the rumored flights to Israel?
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I’m not expert, but I’ve seen this speculation before. I’ve got to believe that its unlikely because of the old TWA debts… In fact, I’m actually surprised US Airways is able to skate by…. other than that there is a settlement, but it doesn’t seem like AMR is paying terribly quickly. http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/former-twa-employees-in-israel-escalate-battle-against-american-airlines-for-rights-estimated-at-the-sum-of-60-million-nis-243314121.html
I have read about this and the overwhelming speculation is that the merger is allowing this to happen. While everything points to American launching the new routes and not U.S. Airways, who knows what sort of legal workaround they may try to use. There is no doubt that the Miami to Tel Aviv flight would be a gold mine. At this point everything is still speculation of course. I have seen this rumor gaining momentum over the past month though and with the El Al announcement yesterday something seems to be in the works.
Your point is taken. Rumors gain and lose momentum. I’ll keep watch on this through you (because otherwise, I can’t say its on my radar)!