Originally Posted by
freed0m
exactly.
China does not want to fly to more destinations in US with higher frequency, no doubt that it would not grant US arilines more destinations or higher frequency.
That DOT shuts down US-China flights is quite an empty threat to China.
For MU, PVG-LAX pencils because they have economies of scale at PVG (e.g. lots of one flight per week services). By contrast, if AA, DL, or UA were to restart LAX-PVG, it would be their ONLY passenger flight between the US and China, and they could do it once per week. Even if they were to outsource all ground handling to MU, the numbers would still suck.