DENVER, CO (Reuters) - American Airlines (AAL.O) is cutting a route from Chicago to Shanghai, cancelling the second direct flight from the U.S. city to China in four months, the carrier said on Tuesday, citing higher fuel costs and a “competitive environment.”
FILE PHOTO: An American Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane takes off from Los Angeles International airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo
American said in a statement it will seek a U.S. Department of Transportation waiver to allow “a return to the market once conditions improve.”
“Our Chicago–Shanghai service is unprofitable and simply not sustainable in this high fuel cost environment and when we have opportunities to be successful in other markets,” Vasu Raja, American’s vice president of network and schedule planning, said in the statement.
American, the largest U.S. carrier by passengers, cut a flight from Chicago to Beijing in May. Certain routes present the three main U.S. carriers with problems earning a profit as they try to grab a larger share of the growing market of passenger traffic from the world’s fastest-growing aviation market.
American rivals United Airlines (UAL.N) and Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) have both previously dropped routes to China.
Chinese passengers arriving at U.S. airports are expected to nearly triple from 4.3 million in 2018 to an estimated 12.8 million in 2024, and the profile is shifting from groups to independent travelers, according to a Boyd Group market forecast.
But the Chinese market remains a challenge for U.S. carriers with fare yields under pressure, and most China-to-U.S. traffic now carried by Chinese carriers, said Boyd Group president Mike Boyd ahead of a Tuesday presentation at the International Aviation Forecast Summit in Denver.
“U.S. airlines are
