Flying High, Winning Big
9th November 2007
The skies between China and the U.S. are opening up and AmCham-China celebrated by giving away vacations. Party-goers at the spectacular new JW Marriott waited expectantly to see who among them would take home the top prizes. American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and United Airlines each offered up a pair of round-trip tickets on their new routes and JW Marriott provided accommodations at each of the U.S. destinations.
In addition to top executives from all the airlines, the November 7 event was attended by various government representatives, including the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Commercial Service, as well as the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Others who hope to benefit from the additional business opportunities expected to be generated by these new routes, also came out.
The Chinese media picked up the news of the event. The Beijing Morning Post wrote an article which was posted on Sina.com’s finance page. CCTV featured a video taped interview with AmCham-China president Mike Barbalas at the celebration.
As almost all of the U.S. ex-pats living in the Middle Kingdom know by now, regulators from the U.S. and China recently announced six new routes between the countries. Two of them, Delta’s nonstop flight between Shanghai and Atlanta, and United’s daily nonstop flight between Guangzhou and San Francisco, have received final approval for take-off and will begin service in the spring of 2008.
The additional four daily nonstop flights; Northwest’s Shanghai-Detroit route, Continental’s Shanghai-Newark route, American’s Beijing-Chicago route, and US Airways’ Beijing-Philadelphia route, are all scheduled for departure in 2009. These flights are expected to get the final green light in the coming months after further public comment.