Originally Posted by
FlyingHighlander
Help a moron out please. What is a route authority? I know nothing about the DOT's role in policing who gets what route. I'd have (wrongly, obviously) thought airlines would just decide where they wanted to fly and that was that (provided they get landing slots/gates/whatever).
Originally Posted by
usbusinesstraveller
There may not be enough enough weekly frequencies in the bilateral to start service next year. Indeed even for 2020 they may have to petition the DOT to strip American of its route authorities for ORD-PEK and/or ORD-PVG. AA has canceled those routes but isn't voluntarily returning the route authorities back to the DOT. Delta has also applied to start MSP-PVG in 2020, and for both of those to be approved the DOT will have to force AA to give up authority for at least one of its canceled routes.
Under the US-China bilateral air services agreement only a certain number of flights are allowed by US and Chinese carriers between the US and China Zone 1 and Zone 2 cities (Beijing, Shanghai and the eastern seaboard provinces). There are only 21 weekly frequencies for US carriers not being flown. 7 are un-allocated by the DOT (after UA ended SFO-HGH and GUM-PVG, and HA ended HNL-PEK). 14 are allocated to American but not flown, as AA ended ORD-PEK and ORD-PVG last month, and AA has asked for a waiver to keep the authorites for those frequencies in case they want to start them again. Note there are another 7 available but they're ringfenced for Guangzhou.
Delta has applied for MSP-PVG to start in 2020, and now United has applied for second daily EWR-PVG. For both of those to be approved the DOT would have to strip AA of at least one of the route authorities. And according to this article both UA and DL are essentially now petitioning for that to happen.
https://www.flightglobal.com/news/ar...i-flig-453290/
"American’s [strategic] choices should not result in it being able to effectively warehouse these frequencies from others until it is ready to make use of them," says United ....
In October, Delta asked the DOT for a new proceeding for all 21 of the China frequencies in question, including the seven available and the 14 held by American, if another airline sought the frequencies that it wants for its proposed Minneapolis flight.
"This approach would be consistent with Department policy, maximise benefits to the travelling public, and enhance the overall competitive environment in the US-China market," the SkyTeam Alliance carrier said..