But Many Say Chicago Stopover Will Doom Bid
A concession to its pilots union on
a proposed nonstop route from Dallas/Fort Worth International
Airport to Beijing may take American Airlines out of the running in
its competition with other US carriers for the service.
American originally wanted to fly nonstop from DFW to Beijing
and back. The Allied Pilots Association, however, took parent
company AMR to task for the length of the outbound flights, which
would exceed the maximum pilot work limit of 16 hours by about a
half hour due to prevailing winds.
As Aero-News reported, the
union offered a concession agreement on the route, in exchange for
several perks such as guaranteed pay. American replied that those
perks should have been negotiated during regular contract talks.
Neither side would budge.
In the end, American submitted a revised proposal Friday,
changing its application to include a stopover in Chicago to change
out flight crews before continuing on the westward journey to
Beijing.
Analysts say that probably spells doom for American for two
reasons. One, the change comes late in the application process;
final bids were to be submitted by October 31. And secondly, the
outbound stopover makes American's proposal less
competitive with those submitted by Continental, United and
Northwest, all of which are offering nonstop service.
"It's dead in the
water," said airline consultant Darryl Jenkins to the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram. "I thought they had a reasonable chance, but now
it's zilch. It's just really sad. It's got to be a tough day at
American Airlines."
The Boyd Group's Mike Boyd agreed, stating "There's virtually no
way American can get it now."
American's proposed return flight from Beijing to DFW -- aided
by the jet stream -- would come in at under 15 hours on average,
and thus would not require a stopover.
Executives at American concede their weaker position compared to
other airlines vying for the route... and placed the blame on the
airline's current contract with its pilots.
"Unfortunately, given the circumstances of flying time, our
current agreement [with pilots] doesn't allow us to fly directly
from DFW to Beijing," said spokesman Charley Wilson.
AMR Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey asserted American's bid is
still competitive.
"Even with the modification, it bears repeating that American's
route request will offer the maximum public benefits for the
valuable and limited opportunity available in the US-China market
and will provide much-needed competitive balance," Arpey said in a
prepared statement.
The lone route up for bid is the result of a new aviation treaty
between the US and China, allowing one carrier to begin new service
between the countries in 2007. Continental Airlines has proposed
flying from Newark, NJ to Beijing; Northwest, from Detroit, MI to
Shanghai.
United Airlines has submitted new service from Washington, DC to
Beijing; it already flies from Chicago to Beijing.
The Department of Transportation is slated to make its decision
on which airline gets the bid early next year. Another route opens
up for 2008, that will also be offered to cargo airlines and other
carriers -- such as Delta -- that don't already offer service
to China.
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