New Flights To Begin In April Of 2011

Following this week's announcement that American Airlines was among those being granted tentative anti-trust immunity with Japanese partners, the legacy carrier said Thursday that the U.S. DOT has granted it the authority and frequencies needed to begin new service between Los Angeles and Shanghai, the largest market for travel between the United States and China that is not presently served by a U.S. airline.

"These new flights will enrich American's customer service offering to China and will expand American's schedule at Los Angeles International Airport, one of its five cornerstone cities," American said in a statement. "We thank DOT officials for their expedited review of our request and we look forward to launching these new daily flights on April 5 using 247-seat Boeing 777 aircraft, which feature 16 First Class, 37 Business Class and 194 Economy Class seats."

By any estimation, it was a good week for American. The airline announced the launch of a new joint business with immunized trans-Atlantic and oneworld partners British Airways and Iberia, new service from New York Kennedy to Budapest, a second Barcelona flight, plus new service from Chicago O'Hare to Helsinki and a second flight between Miami and Madrid. In addition, DOT tentatively granted trans-Pacific antitrust immunity for American and its oneworld partner Japan Airlines.

FMI: www.aa.com