China Eastern, Delta and Hainan Airlines' new routes accelerate US-China aviation development

The China-US market continues to grow, as expected, but the segment is showing acceleration in the way that growth is occurring. China Eastern plans to launch Nanjing-Los Angeles service, its first trans-Pacific route from a city outside its Shanghai hub. Hainan will launch a new Beijing-San Jose service, consistent with its secondary city focus, but thicken Beijing-Boston and Beijing-Seattle services with flights to those US cities from Shanghai. Hainan Airlines becomes the first (by two weeks) Chinese carrier to serve a US point from multiple Chinese cities. US airlines already serve Chinese points from multiple US cities.

And Delta Air Lines, normally conservative with long-haul growth, has brought forward a Los Angeles-Shanghai service in its five-year plan to a Jul-2015 start date. Not only is Delta accelerating growth, it is doing so on the most competitive US-China route; it becomes the fourth airline on the city-pair after America, China Eastern and United. Delta attributes its growth to the visa liberalisation between China and the US, which Delta says was a surprise.