BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

 WASHINGTON, D. C. 

--------------------------------------------- 

Application of : 

 : 

 AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. : DOT-OST-2010- 

 : 

under 49 USC 40109 for an exemption : 

and allocation of frequencies : 

(Los Angeles-Shanghai) : 

--------------------------------------------- 

 

APPLICATION OF AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. 

FOR AN EXEMPTION AND ALLOCATION OF 

FREQUENCIES (LOS ANGELES-SHANGHAI) 

Communications with respect to this document should be sent to: 

VIRASB VAHIDI WILLIAM K. RIS, JR. 

Senior Vice President - Senior Vice President - 

 Planning Government Affairs 

American Airlines, Inc. American Airlines, Inc. 

P.O. Box 619616, MD 5634 1101 17th Street, N.W. 

DFW Airport, Texas 75161 Washington, D.C. 20036 

 

KENJI C. HASHIMOTO CARL B. NELSON, JR. 

Vice President – Strategic Associate General Counsel 

 Alliances American Airlines, Inc. 

American Airlines, Inc. 1101 17th Street, N.W. 

P.O. Box 619616, MD 5635 Washington, D.C. 20036 

DFW Airport, Texas 75261 (202) 496-5647 

 carl.nelson@aa.com 

ROBERT A. WIRICK 

Director, Regulatory 

American Airlines, Inc. 

P.O. Box 619616, MD 5635 

DFW Airport, Texas 75261 

(817) 963-0394 

robert.wirick@aa.com 

October 1, 2010 
BEFORE THE 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

 WASHINGTON, D. C. 

--------------------------------------------- 

Application of : 

 : 

 AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. : DOT-OST-2010- 

 : 

under 49 USC 40109 for an exemption : 

and allocation of frequencies : 

(Los Angeles-Shanghai) : 

--------------------------------------------- 

 

APPLICATION OF AMERICAN AIRLINES, INC. 

FOR AN EXEMPTION AND ALLOCATION OF 

FREQUENCIES (LOS ANGELES-SHANGHAI) 

 

 American Airlines, Inc., under 49 USC 40109, hereby 

applies for an exemption and allocation of seven weekly frequencies in order to provide scheduled foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail between Los Angeles, 

California and Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. 

 American proposes to operate daily nonstop service 

beginning April 5, 2011, using 247-seat B777 aircraft 

(16F/37C/194Y). Illustrative schedules and other data are 

attached (Exhibit AA-1). 

 American is designated to serve China, and currently 

operates daily flights between Chicago and both Shanghai and 

Beijing. Under the U.S.-China Air Transport Agreement, as 

amended, 28 weekly frequencies are unallocated and available 

to support our proposal. 
- 2 - 

 Today the only nonstop service between Los Angeles and 

Shanghai is operated by China Eastern Airlines. American has 

been displaying the AA* code on China Eastern’s flights. But 

there is no nonstop service in the market operated by a U.S.-

flag carrier. United publishes single flight number service 

from Los Angeles to Shanghai, but with a stop and change of 

gauge at San Francisco. 

 Los Angeles is the largest U.S.-Shanghai O&D market, 

with 201,889 passenger bookings for the 12 months ended August 

2010 (Exhibit AA-2). Los Angeles also accounts for more O&D 

passengers to China than any other U.S. city. 

 American and American Eagle operate 123 daily departures 

at Los Angeles, serving 14 cities in the United States as well 

as destinations in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Central 

America. 

 Nonstop service by American between Los Angeles and 

Shanghai is clearly in the public interest. In addition to 

benefiting local O&D traffic in the largest U.S.-China O&D 

market, American will provide important new connecting opportunities for beyond passengers. 
- 3 - 

 Under American’s proposal, a total of 14 U.S. cities 

will enjoy on-line connecting service beyond Los Angeles in one 

or both directions (Exhibit AA-3). The five largest U.S.-

Shanghai O&D markets (Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, 

Chicago, and Washington) will all have on-line service (Exhibit 

AA-3). Other cities that will have on-line service via Los 

Angeles include Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Denver, Miami, 

Portland, and Seattle. 

 American has a growing identity and presence in the 

U.S.-China market, and is well positioned to operate nonstop 

service from Los Angeles to Shanghai. American has served 

China since 2006, and is developing strong point-of-sale 

relationships there. 

 We will poll the carriers named on the attached service 

list for non-objections. Assuming the polling results are 

favorable, we seek expedited approval of our application so 

that we may conclude preparations for inaugurating daily Los 

Angeles-Shanghai nonstop service on April 5, 2011. 

 Respectfully submitted, 

 

 ___________________________ 

 CARL B. NELSON, JR. 

 Associate General Counsel 

 American Airlines, Inc. 

October 1, 2010 
Exhibit AA -1

Page 1 of 2

Effective 

 April 5, 2011

AA 183 Flight Number AA 182

Daily Frequency Daily

B777-200ER Equipment B777-200ER

1205 Los Angeles (LAX) 1525

| ^

| |

| |

v |

1635 +1 Shanghai (PVG) 1835

13:30 Elapsed Time 11:50

AMERICAN AIRLINES

Los Angeles - Shanghai Nonstop Service

Source: American Airlines Capacity Planning
Exhibit AA - 1

Page 2 of 2

Aircraft B777

Departures 730

Segment Miles 6,485

Plane Miles 4,734,050

ASMs 1,169,310,350

Fuel Burn (Gallons/Hour) 2,320 

Fuel Consumption (000 Gallons) 21,001

First Class 16

Business Class 37

Economy Class 194

Total 247

AIRCRAFT AVAILABILITY - American will use aircraft currently in its fleet.

American operates 47 Boeing 777s (247 seats) 

FUEL AVAILABILITY - American anticipates no difficulty in obtaining fuel 

from its existing suppliers at Los Angeles and Shanghai.

Seating Configuration 

AMERICAN AIRLINES

Los Angeles - Shanghai Nonstop Service

Annual Operating Statistics 

Effective April 5, 2011

Source: American Airlines Capacity Planning
Exhibit AA - 2

Page 1 of 1

MARKET ANNUAL BOOKINGS

1 LAX PVG 201,889

2 PEK SFO 151,764

3 PVG SFO 149,827

4 LAX PEK 144,458

5 JFK PEK 123,635

6 JFK PVG 113,431

7 FOC JFK 93,003

8 CAN LAX 79,765

9 ORD PVG 72,396

10 EWR PVG 66,716

11 ORD PEK 61,041

12 EWR PEK 51,941

13 IAD PEK 49,220

14 CAN JFK 49,040

15 PEK SEA 43,020

16 DTW PVG 39,340

17 BOS PVG 33,790

18 BOS PEK 32,482

19 CAN SFO 31,119

20 HNL PVG 26,686

21 IAH PEK 24,358

22 HNL PEK 24,055

23 IAH PVG 21,694

24 PVG SEA 20,195

25 ATL PVG 20,053

26 DFW PVG 16,590

27 ATL PEK 16,400

28 MSP PVG 14,989

29 DFW PEK 14,507

30 DTW PEK 13,779

31 IAD PVG 11,887

32 LAX SHE 11,872

33 MSP PEK 11,707

34 PDX PVG 11,450

35 DCA PVG 10,796

LOS ANGELES - SHANGHAI IS THE LARGEST

U.S. - CHINA O&D MARKET

Source: MIDT YE August 2010
Exhibit AA-3

Page 1 of 1

Eastbound

ANC Anchorage 2/

AUS Austin

DEN Denver

DFW Dallas/Ft. Worth

FAT Fresno 1/

JFK New York (Kennedy) 

MIA Miami

ORD Chicago

PDX Portland 2/

RNO Reno 1/

ROW Roswell 1/

SAN San Diego 1/

SBA Santa Barbara 1/

SEA Seattle 2/

SFO San Francisco

SJC San Jose 1/

Westbound

ANC Anchorage 2/

AUS Austin

DEN Denver

DFW Dallas/Ft. Worth

FAT Fresno 1/

PDX Portland 2/

RNO Reno 1/

SAN San Diego 1/

SBA Santa Barbara 1/

SEA Seattle 2/

SFO San Francisco

SJC San Jose 1/

1/ Operated by American Eagle

2/ Operated by Alaska Airlines

Online Connections

AMERICAN AIRLINES

Los Angeles - Shanghai Nonstop Service

Source: OAG as of September 2010
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

 I hereby certify that I have this day served the foregoing 

document by email on the following carriers: 

 

 Continental dan.weiss@coair.com 

 

 Delta sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com 

 

 United jeffrey.manley@united.com 

 FedEx nssparks@fedex.com 

UPS dfisher@kelleydrye.com 

 Evergreen esauer@ssd.com 

 Atlas Air rpommer@atlatair.com 

 

 Polar kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com 

 

 ________________________ 

 CARL B. NELSON 

October 1, 2010