American Airlines launches Dallas-Beijing, accelerating US airlines' refocus on China over Japan

American Airlines' 07-May-2015 launch of daily Dallas-Beijing services gives Dallas/Fort Worth airport, in the space of a year, its trifecta of Greater China destinations: Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. Dallas becomes the 10th North American airport to offer flights to the three cities. Four airports - Los Angeles, New York JFK, San Francisco and Vancouver - have services to additional cities; San Francisco has the most with six greater China destinations.

The Dallas-Beijing service also cements a turning point for American Airlines' Asia network, which in 2015 will be larger in mainland China than Japan, the historical Asian focus for US airlines. American in 2015 will have 22% more seats to mainland China than Japan. United also will now have an 11% larger network in China than it has in Japan in 2015. Delta remains anchored on Japan, with twice as many non-stops seats there as to China, although the gap has been narrowing.