Posted on 04/14/2007 8:08:53 PM PDT by Paleo Conservative
The United States hopes to formalize an agreement with China to increase air travel between the nations.
BEIJING -- (AP) -- The United States is discussing a deal with China to liberalize air travel and hopes for a framework ''open skies'' agreement by May, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Friday.
Washington hopes to produce a formal agreement by the end of this year, said Peters, who was in Beijing to discuss the possible agreement with Chinese officials.
''We want to at least have the basic framework in place by May,'' Peters said.
The number of airline flights between China and the United States is sharply limited by international agreement, despite rapidly rising travel that has left aircraft packed.
U.S. carriers lobbied aggressively for one new route that was awarded this year. It went to United Airlines, which used it to launch the first direct service between Beijing and Washington last month.
ADDITIONAL ROUTES?
Officials at American Airlines, the nation's biggest carrier, were hoping for more details Friday on just how quickly routes might be added between the two countries.
''Obviously we'd be greatly in favor of seeing more frequencies open up,'' said Tim Smith, a spokesman for American. ``The markets between the United States and China are still greatly underserved.''
American bid unsuccessfully last year for a Dallas-Beijing route and plans to bid in the future for new flights to China, although Smith said the airline has not settled on specific routes. American is a unit of AMR Corp.
Continental Airlines supports the government's efforts to liberalize air travel between the two countries, said spokeswoman Julie King.
''Continental continues to be interested in additional flights to China, including New York to Shanghai,'' King said. Continental proposed a New York-Shanghai route last year, but the Transportation Department picked a rival offer by UAL's United Airlines.
CARRIER HOPES
Delta Air Lines is also eager to get a foothold in China, officials at the carrier said Friday.
''Delta is keen to build our presence in Asia as a continuation of our international expansion,'' said spokeswoman Betsy Talton. ``To this end, we've applied to provide the first and only nonstop service to China from the Southeast and would certainly pursue additional U.S.-China markets if negotiators agree to further liberalization.''
FedEx recently obtained rights to operate 30 round trip flights between the United States and China, spokeswoman Denise Lauer said. The courier broke ground last year on a $150 million hub in southern China at the Biyun International Airport in Guangzhou.
The framework ''open skies'' agreement would be discussed at a May meeting in Washington at a high-level U.S.-China dialogue on trade relations, Peters said.
Despite strong demand, there are an average of only 11 daily nonstop flights between China and the United States, Peters said.
If you want on or off my aerospace ping list, please contact me by Freep mail.
Thank God, when I read the title I thought we had agreed to have our skies manufactured in China along with everything else !!!
Great! More spies!
I’d give the yellow bastards the air routes most likely to be hit by returning space debris.
Why not?
We have open borders with Mexico.
I agree.
What do you want to bet that the “agreement” heavily favors China to the detriment of U.S. carriers?
>Great! More spies!<
>>Or planeloads of asylum-seekers.<<
I doubt many Chinese asylum seekers are among them, but rest assured countless Chinese Communists have been infiltrating our country along with the Mexicans.
The Chinese people are enjoying the benefits of having more money to spend in their own country.
I thnk this is horrible. Lufthansa, British and Air France have always been drooling in getting a foothold in the USA. Lufthnsa is the best. Those Germans are never late. I am in the freight forwarding business and this will kill AA, Delta, and others in the long run. I wish we were more protective of our companies. It reminds me when the Chinese bought a slice of IBM.
These guys Finnish here in th US with around 300 hours and get sent back to china and put in 737’s, for a US a pilot it takes many thousands of hours before we even get near a 737.
And it shows in how they fly back in China. One instance of a Chinese airline flying into a mountain after the 2 or 3 (can’t remember) people in the cockpit heard the terrain alert horn and a voice say “pull up, pull up terrain, terrain”. The last thing the voice recorder had on it was one other Chinese saying “what pull up mean?”
Dude . . . you tried to hijack an airline thread.
was the pun intended?
Oh, yeah. :)
One thing that people should understand before booking flights on third world airlines is a little bit about cockpit culture. In the third world, the Captain is about as close to a sky god that you can get. Neither the co-pilot nor the rest of the crew is going to comment on, much less countermand a decision that he makes. CRM is nonexistent.
On American carriers, on the other hand, CRM is a constant part of our training and the flight deck crew works as a team. While this occasionally breaks down, it works pretty well for the most part.
However, like most of the open anything agreements we have signed, this will work to our detriment. Our carriers will gain access to a couple of Chinese cities that have the infrastructure and population to serve as international gateways and their carriers will gain access to a dozen or so of ours...just like what happened on the Atlantic side.
It’s a two way street. Chi Com airlines landing in the heart land.
I know an expat flying for a line in an “emerging country” all of which will go unnamed. He’s a lot younger than most pilots stateside, and treated like gold. He loves it, but is scared by what it means about the airline’s culture.
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