American Airlines (AA, Dallas/Fort Worth) has hit back at an attempt by rival Delta Air Lines (DL, Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson) to block its application for a year-long stay on the launch of Los Angeles International-Beijing Capital, China, flights following protracted delays in securing the necessary slots from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
Delta had earlier petitioned the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to reject AA's application on the grounds that it lacked seriousness insofar as the route's launch is concerned. It also argued that the requested extension would further deny the traveling public the benefits these "valuable" frequencies entail.
Responding to Delta this week, American said Delta's grounds for objection provided no basis for the DOT to reject American’s request for a start-up extension for its Los Angeles-Beijing service.
In the first instance, AA argues that its request is in line with DOT policy to grant extensions to US carriers that encounter difficulties obtaining slots at international airports. AA claims Delta "suffers from amnesia" given that it, too, had requested, and been granted, two launch deferrals for its Tokyo Haneda slot pairs. Therefore, it says, Delta's petition is tantamount to asking the DOT to chart a new course and refuse to grant start-up extensions where the delay is caused by forces beyond the control of the moving party.
"Because Delta provides no support for this proposed departure from established policy, the Department should reject Delta’s newly-espoused position," AA argued.
In the second instance, AA forthrightly denies Delta's claim that it had taken a lackadaisical approach towards the issue of slots at Beijing Capital. American says Delta's claim that it had “first filed an application for slots on December 19, 2016, five days after the Department’s Final Order” is indisputably false. It says it applied to CAAC for slots on Monday, December 19, i.e. the next working day after the order was finalized on Friday, December 16. AA also adds that even prior to the DOT's final ruling, it had reached out to CAAC and other Chinese stakeholders to determine the availability of slots in Beijing.
"There is nothing more that American could have reasonably done to obtain its needed slots," AA said.
AA also rejects Delta's assertion that were the DOT to reallocate the route authorities to itself, it would "be able to obtain the PEK slots that American claims it cannot.” Delta had previously said it would be able to leverage its partnership with China Eastern Airlines (MU, Shanghai Hongqiao) to gain the necessary access to Beijing Capital. Here, AA argues that doing so would allow CAAC, or any other foreign regulator for that matter, to usurp the DOT's orders.
"If Delta is correct that there are Beijing slots available for Los Angeles-Beijing service, then the Department should ensure that the CAAC allocates those slots to American. To do otherwise would allow the CAAC to dictate which U.S. carriers should and should not operate U.S.-China routes based on alliance affiliations of Chinese carriers."
Lastly, American also highlights that Delta's request for access to the Beijing rights is moot given it already holds the US-China frequencies necessary to launch its proposed Los Angeles-Beijing backup service. AA says that if Delta is so intent on launching the route, it should use one of the seven of U.S.-China frequencies already allocated to it, but which it uses to provide Tokyo-Shanghai Pudong services instead.
