i'm posting because currently there is a frenzy among us carriers to grab china routes, but ac -- which: 1) has a carte blanche to up capacity within reason; and 2) has hubs that are just as convenient as ord, dtw, sfo, nyc, dfw, lax, etc -- is going a bit soft (as demonstrated by its use of [tiny] 763s on its yvr flights and its inability to sustain yyz-pvg thru the winter).

meanwhile, as frequent traveler between beijing and the us, i rarely see a lot of noise from ac in either country. yeah, they run print ads here in china that reinforce the fact they can get the job done, but they aren't really on the common man's radar (save those who actually travel to yvr or yyz, of course).

and, in the us, you'd never know they existed. in fact, the media portrays the us-china market as a borderline crisis. since my general travel patterns have endowed me with more knowledge than "the media", i always know how to cope (and ac comes into play on occasion, even though i hate those 763s), but imo extending their reach wouldn't hurt them.

obviously, i am not an airline strategist so i don't doubt that sound logic lays behind ac's numbess (limiations on o/d traffic being the most obvious). nevertheless, i remain curious as to why they haven't played a stronger hand in this particular game.

insights would be appreciated, even if only for amusement purposes.