American Airlines fires a new salvo in the hotly contested US-Asia market with strikes from DFW

American Airlines' decision to launch service from its Dallas/Fort Worth hub to Hong Kong and Shanghai is a strategic move to bolster its historically weak positioning in the US-Asia market, and is occurring at a time when some carriers in those markets are enjoying particularly favourable results on their service to North America and are rapidly expanding.

American is also positioning itself to capitalise on the growing demand between Asia and Latin America by funnelling passengers through its largest hub for connections onwards to Central and South America.

The moves by American - which also include axing its service from New York JFK to Tokyo Haneda due to unfavourable operating times - also show a diminished emphasis on Japan as a traditional stop-over as direct services become an imperative to attract and retain high-yielding business passengers.