American to add seasonal flights to LAX

American Airlines is adding two seasonal routes to LAX.

Just in time for ski season, American will fly between LAX and Eagle/Vail, CO from December 13, 2007 to March 30, 2008.

LAX to San Jose, Costa Rica begins on November 15, 2007.

http://www.aa.com/aa/i18nForward.do?p=/aboutUs/newServiceRoutes.jsp&anchorEvent=false

China mania: United bids for LAX-Shanghai route; other airlines push for East Coast-China routes

China, China, China is all we hear about in international business these days and the aviation industry is not exempt. On May 23rd, the U.S. and China announced a more liberal aviation bilateral agreement that will allow three new U.S. airlines to fly to China- 1 in 2007 and 2 in 2009.
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=8995

U.S. airlines are flooding the U.S. Transportation Department with applications for new routes to China. The only non-stop route including LAX is being proposed by United Airlines. In January 2007, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded United a new route to China with the first ever capital-to-capital flight of Washington-Dulles to Beijing on March 28th.
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.htmlstoryID=7562
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=7872
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=8400

United is competing against other airlines that also have set-up online petitions for new China routes.

On July 25, United sent emails to its Los Angeles area Mileage Plus members asking them to sign an electronic petition in support of United's bid for an LAX-Shanghai route. The petition is addressed to U.S. Transportation Department Secretary Mary Peters. United claims in the email that, "Currently, Los Angeles, with a population of more than 18 million, is the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. without nonstop service to China by a U.S. carrier. We believe strongly that this route is necessary for the convenience of our travelers to China." If awarded, United would begin LAX-Shanghai flights on March 25, 2009. Presently, only China Eastern Airlines provides non-stop service on the LAX-Shanghai route. There is one catch to United's application- if LAX is rejected, then United wants a Washington Dulles-Shanghai route.
UA's petition: http://www.united.com/page/article/0,6722,52274,00.html
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/search/autosuggest.jsp?docid=256530&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aviationnow.com%2Favnow%2Fnews%2Fchannel_comm_story.jsp%3Fview%3Dstory%26id%3Dnews%2FCHIF07187.xml

American Airlines is pushing for a Chicago-Beijing route. American lost a previous bid of Dallas/Fort Worth to Beijing when it could not get its pilots union to agree to a longer duty time to support the flight. AA modified the route application to DFW-Chicago-Beijing to comply with the pilot's union contract.
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=7332
http://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/pressReleases/2007_07/16_china.jhtml
AA's petition: http://www.flytochinaonaa.com/

Continental Airlines has proposed a New York/Newark-Shanghai route. The flight would start in Cleveland, go to Newark Airport and then onto Shanghai.
http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/company/shanghai.aspx
CO's petition: http://www.continental.com/web/en-US/content/company/petition.aspx

Delta Airlines is requesting permission to fly Atlanta-Shanghai and Altanta-Beijing.
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10781
DL's petition: http://www.nextgatewaytochina.com/

Northwest Airlines has applied for Detroit-Shanghai and Detroit-Beijing routes.
http://www.nwa.com/corpinfo/newsc/2007/pr071620071861.html
NW's petition: http://www.nwa.com/features/chinabid/

MaxJet, the all business class Boeing 767 airline, is a surprise candidate in proposing a Shanghai-Seattle route with continuing same-plane service to LAX.
http://www.maxjet.com/docs/7_17_07_China_application.pdf
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/search/autosuggest.jsp?docid=256530&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aviationnow.com%2Favnow%2Fnews%2Fchannel_comm_story.jsp%3Fview%3Dstory%26id%3Dnews%2FCHIF07187.xml

USAirways seeks to expand its flights to China with a new Philadelphia-Beijing flight. The flight will originate in Charlotte, NC.
http://www.usairways.com/awa/content/aboutus/pressroom/newservice/index.aspx?c=00241_hp_china
US's petition: http://www.choicestochina.com/

More reading:
Air Transport World story on China route applications:
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=9574

Singapore Airlines upgrades aircraft on Singapore non-stop

Singapore Airlines recently replaced the 181 seat Airbus A340-500 on the LAX-Singapore non-stop flight with a 278 seat Boeing 777-300ER. The new 777 service will provide 8 First Class seats, 42 Executive Class seats and 228 Economy class seats. The new aircraft increases seat capacity on this route by 54%.

The aircraft interior is simply gorgeous. See it for yourself here: http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/content/exp/new/index.jsp

Compare the two aircraft seating plans at SeatGuru.com:
A340-500: http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Singapore_Air/Singapore_Air_Airbus_A345.php
B777-300ER: http://www.seatguru.com/airlines/Singapore_Air/Singapore_Air_Boeing_777-300ER.php

LAX adding new flights

Contrary to what you are reading in the newspapers, LAX is adding more domestic and international flights. The new services are grouped below by airline.

American Airlines
American is the second largest airline at LAX. American's regional carrier, American Eagle, is adding a new non-stop to Santa Fe, NM on December 14th. Flights will be on American Eagle's 44-seat Embraer ERJ-140 regional jets.
http://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/pressReleases/2007_07/23_santafe.jhtml

Delta Airlines
Delta is expanding its service in a big way at LAX. Western Airlines had served many of the domestic and Mexican destinations listed below from LAX. Delta acquired Western in 1986. Delta is also adding service to some cities in Mexico and Central America that have never before had non-stop service to LAX. Did you know LAX is the number one U.S. airport in flights to Mexico? New non-stops added in June and July include:
Boise, ID
Denver, CO
Oakland, CA
McAllen, TX
Oklahoma City, OK (starts September 4)
Phoenix, AZ
Sacramento, CA
San Francisco, CA
San Jose, CA
Santa Fe, NM (starts December 10)
Spokane, WA
Vancouver, Canada
Belize City, Belize
Guanacaste-Liberia, Costa Rica
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Culiacan, Mexico
Guadalajara, Mexico
Hermosillo, Mexico
La Paz, Mexico
Loreto, Mexico
Los Mochis, Mexico
Terreon, Mexico
Tijuana, Mexico
Zacatecas, Mexico
Zihuatanejo, Mexico
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10558
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10639
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10699
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10722
http://news.delta.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=10790

MaxJet
MaxJet is an all-business class airline flying Boeing 767-200ER's from the U.S. to London's Stansted Airport (airport code STN). Stansted, located east of central London, is a major base for two of Europe's largest low cost airlines, Ryanair and easyJet. There is a convenient rail connection from London Stansted to central London. MaxJet will begin offering four weekly flights from LAX to London Stansted on August 30, 2007. http://www.maxjet.com/homeAction.do#/html/flyingMaxjet/flyingMaxjetLosAngeles.html

United Airlines
United is the largest airline serving LAX. On September 5th, United is adding a Wichita, KS daily roundtrip served by explus on a Canadair Regional Jet 700 and in October a daily flight to Hong Kong with continuing service to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on a Boeing 747-400. http://www.united.com/press/detail/0,6862,58186,00.html
http://www.united.com/press/detail/0,6862,58105,00.html

Welcome to the LAX Blog!

The goal of the LAX Blog is to be the number one source of information on all matters concerning Los Angeles International Airport. In addition, we will cover other L.A. City owned airports such as LA/Ontario, LA/Palmdale and Van Nuys Airport. Blog away!