Ominous signs for United Airlines are found in a
new report on airline traffic between China and the United States that airline data behemoth OAG released on Tuesday.
With a slowing
Chinese economy and unresolved trade tensions between China and the United States, airline traffic between the two nations has notably slowed. But the OAG data indicates some U.S. gateway markets are getting hit worse than others.
In news that cannot be good for United Airlines, traffic to and from China out of San Francisco and Chicago, two hubs where United operates nonstops to several Chinese destinations, is not so robust as it is elsewhere.
The data analysis from OAG’s
Becca Rowland indicates most of the significant growth in traffic to and from China is happening at two U.S airports in particular — Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK).
Rowland attributes this in no small part to the fact L.A. and New York City are home to the largest numbers of residents of Chinese descent — 500,000 in L.A. and 750,000 in N.Y.C.
For the 12 months ending in April, OAG found that LAX airline traffic to and from China was up 8.5 percent, and up 3.5 percent year over year at JFK.
OAG, however, noted no comparable bump in traffic to and from China out of San Francisco International Airport (SFO), which is where United has established its principal gateway to China from the U.S.
A United spokesman on Tuesday said the carrier operates one nonstop to Shanghai from LAX, but that’s it for United’s China service from Los Angeles.
The news was even less upbeat regarding Chicago, where United continues to operate nonstop flights from O’Hare International Airport to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.
OAG noted that passengers flying from China and connecting to onward flights via O’Hare plummeted nearly 20 percent year over year through April. OAG also noted a similar near 20 percent drop in connecting passengers from China out of SFO.
One eye-opening chart in the new OAG study shows that between September 2018 and August 2019, 3,635 frequencies on routes between popular LAX and China were flown by China-based airlines such as Hainan Airlines and China Southern, while 1,392 frequencies were operated by U.S.-based carriers.
It has long been known that Chinese travelers, given a choice, prefer to fly with China-based carriers. That predilection isn’t likely to change in the near term.
Meanwhile, for now, United isn’t backing off China service from either Chicago or San Francisco. In fact, the carrier plans to add a second nonstop between SFO and Hong Kong in October, even though the Asian financial capital has been rocked lately by massive throngs of political protesters.
More at:
https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/...-in-china.html
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