Carrier Receives Final Approval For DC-Beijing Flights

The Department of Transportation dotted its final i's and crossed the last t's this week on its approval for United Airlines to begin flying a new route to China. On Thursday, the DOT gave its final OK for United to start service to Beijing in March from Washington Dulles International.

"Our new nonstop, capital-to-capital service will provide unprecedented convenience for the growing number of travelers from the East Coast to China, which is particularly important when you consider that nearly 68,000 DC-area residents travel to China annually," said Dennis Cary, United’s senior vice president of Marketing. "Washington, DC will join 28 other world capitals in offering nonstop service to Beijing. We look forward to providing our customers another gateway to China and more opportunities to travel to the Olympic Games in Beijing next year."

As Aero-News reported, the DOT gave preliminary approval in January for United to operate the new daily flight between Dulles and Beijing's China Peking Capital Airport. Also applying for the daily service was American Airlines, which sought to fly between Dallas/Fort Worth and Beijing; Continental Airlines, which applied for service between Newark, NJ and Shanghai; and Northwest Airlines, which applied for Detroit-Shanghai service.

From the start, United was seen as having one of the stronger proposals on the table... a position that became stronger still when, near the end of the selection process, American sought to change its proposal to add a stop in Chicago before continuing to Beijing. The DOT denied American's motion, which was made to address concerns by American's pilots union on work hour regulations.

The DOT evaluates US air carrier proposals for new service between the two countries as part of a US-China aviation agreement signed in July 2004, that called for a total of 195 new weekly flights phased in over a six-year period. The next eligible route will be awarded next year.

United will fly the new route, beginning March 25, using Boeing 747-400s in a three-class, 347-seat configuration.

FMI: www.united.com, www.dot.gov