Originally Posted by
garykung
It is only part of the story. If COVID was the sole culprit, then CX needed not to cancel, but suspend the service, like other U.S. routes.
In short - CX made a bet and lost (as always).
The exact internal decision process was unknown. However, given the time between DL's cancellation announcement and CX's announcement, the decision was made recklessly, looking like CX just walked in when DL walked out.
Not exactly. But true. Just for Chinese alone, YVR has 2 times more than SEA. And the reason why it is JFK-YVR-HKG and not JFK-SEA-HKG is clearly FAA related.
Indeed, because at the minimum 1) FAA will not approve a foreign carrier for domestic market; 2) CBP would make an issue for immigration/customs.
Before its cancellation, CX's YVR-JFK was the only transborder flight that exempt preclearance process.
They didn't need FAA approval. They weren't going to fly paying passengers just JFK-SEA as a primary motivation. Flying paying passengers JFK-YVR was a non-priority. They were stopping at YVR to pickup passengers to goto HKG. If they got a few extra $ flying passengers JFK-YVR great, but again didn't matter. YVR over SEA regardless of HKG or Chinese population was about fact either group is more populated in YVR.
QF flies (or flew pre CV19) SYD-LAX-JFK. They just cant accept paying passengers just LAX-JFK.
Actually DL YVR-ATL flight was not preclearance due to hour of departure. Sucked, you got ATL at same time as African flights.