Airlines Vie for China Route

Direct-to-Beijing Flight Sparks Lobbying Push

An intense lobbying battle has erupted over a new air route to China that could provide the winning airline with a boost in revenue as the industry slowly emerges from its sharpest downturn in history.

Among the competitors, United Airlines is seeking approval to begin a direct flight between the Washington region's Dulles International Airport and Beijing. The other airlines in the contest are American, Continental and Northwest.

The route has sparked intense interest because of China's growing economy and the planned 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Direct U.S. flights into China also are relatively rare because the federal government has restricted access to foreign carriers. Under an agreement with China, the Transportation Department is to choose one airline to operate a single daily flight between the two countries.

Flights are to begin as early as March.

The lobbying campaigns have drawn in local business groups; legislators; and Jane Garvey, former head of the Federal Aviation Administration. The airlines have also asked their travelers to send letters of support. The sides are battling it out in press releases, behind-the-scenes maneuvering and filings with the Transportation Department.

"We're talking about millions of dollars in profit a year, not just pennies," said Michael Miller, an analyst with the Velocity Group. "In an era where domestic air travel is highly competitive, international routes like these present a much greater chance for making a profit than do domestic opportunities."

American Airlines is petitioning the government to fly between its Dallas hub and Beijing. Continental Airlines is asking to link its Newark hub and Shanghai, and Northwest Airlines is hoping for a flight between its Detroit hub and Shanghai. American, Continental and United already offer direct service to Beijing and Shanghai through San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and Newark. Northwest offers connections to China through Japan from several U.S. cities, and one flight from Detroit stops in Japan before continuing to Shanghai.

All of the airlines say their routes would serve huge numbers of travelers who use their hubs and would help boost local economies around those airports.

In filings, American says it would be unfair to award the route to United or Northwest because they already have extensive networks in Asia. For its part, Northwest says it serves more cities from Detroit than any of the competitors do at their hubs and its airport has a "state-of-the art terminal facility." Continental boasts in its press releases that the New Jersey-New York area has a larger population of Chinese Americans than the other cities.

To push its case, United has formed a coalition with the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, local tourism officials and the Greater Washington Board of Trade. The group launched a Web site ( http://www.capitaltocapital.net/ ) Tuesday to highlight what it says are the strengths of the Washington-Beijing bid.

"Everybody recognizes the incredible importance of China from the business point of view," said Michael Whitaker, a United vice president. "The Chinese economy is growing 10 percent a year. Demand is very high. Flights to China tend to be very full. . . . That is what makes them good routes. This would be a very big deal for the Washington area. . . . We've had normalized relations since 1972 and still don't have nonstop service, which seems odd."

In a filing with the Transportation Department, United officers said their service "would provide a critical link between the capitals . . . enhancing the political, economic and cultural ties of the two counties."