In a bid to take up the empty flight slots at Shanghai’s Pudong Airport, Chicago-based United has applied to the US Department of Transportation to expand its services from its New York/Newark hub to Shanghai.

If approved, the new service would allow United to add a second daily service between Newark and Shanghai-Pudong which would begin in 2020.

"Our application for a second daily flight between New York/Newark and Shanghai is in response to the demand for travel between each country's financial center, which has grown annually for the last several years," said Oscar Munoz, United's Chief Executive Officer. "If approved, this additional flight will help facilitate the development of increased business and tourism, provide additional capacity for customers and further enhance United's position both as the airline of choice to China and our hub at Newark Liberty International Airport as the premier East Coast gateway to Asia."

United’s application for additional services follow Delta’s proposal for flights between Minneapolis-St. Paul to Shanghai, where it already has a prominent presence on flights between the US and China. Since the airline’s first flights to China in 1986, United operates 90 weekly flights to Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, and Chengdu to key US hubs such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago-O’Hare, New York/Newark, and Washington DC-Dulles.

In addition to the 90 weekly flights between the two countries, United also has a code-share agreement with Star Alliance partner airline Air China for flight connections in China and Asia from its hub at Beijing-Capital Airport.

While the amount of flights between the US and China is limited and governed by existing agreements, Delta has proposed to start the service after two US airlines have reduced the number of flights to Shanghai this year. United Airlines ended its thrice-weekly service to Guam in March, followed by American Airlines move to end its non-stop Shanghai-Chicago connection last month.



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