Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

Department of Transportation opens up new routes to China
By Geoff Johnson
The California Aggie (UC-Davis)
07/30/2007

(U-WIRE) DAVIS, Calif. — Nonstop daily flights from the United States to China may be available as early as 2008.

The Department of Transportation has approved routes from the United States directly to the city of Guangzhou, China. United Airlines is the sole bidder for the right to send flights from San Francisco to Guangzhou and Los Angeles to Shanghai.

If approved, SFO-Guangzhou flights will be available in 2008, with LAX-Shanghai flights following in 2009. This would be the first daily nonstop route between the United States and Guangzhou and the first daily nonstop route between LAX and Shanghai.

The prospect has drawn the attention of the California legislature. Fifty-two state legislators so far have signed a letter to Mary Peters, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, encouraging the bid. Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) sent out a press release encouraging the venture.

"United's proposal is the only one that would depart from California, and thus would create thousands of new jobs for our state and add millions of dollars to our economy," said Yee. United Airlines is also the only carrier that has expressed interest in Guangzhou, Yee said, noting the city is the birthplace of many Chinese-Americans and calling it a major trading partner to California.

According to Yee's release, the route will create 1,400 jobs in the Bay Area and another 3,300 in the Los Angeles area. Adam Keigwin, spokesperson for Yee, said the route would also yield millions of dollars for California.

"All the other airlines would be flying from airports outside of California, so our state wanted to benefit from any of the revenue that's generated ... and any of the jobs," Keigwin said. Guangzhou is now the third most populous city in China, Keigwin said, but to get there, passengers currently have to go through Shanghai or Hong Kong first.

SFO currently has more traffic to and from Guangzhou than any other metropolitan area without nonstop service, Keigwin said, and LAX was considered because of the amount of commerce it represented to California.

"A lot of business people would go back and forth from Shanghai and L.A.," Keigwin said.

Pete Scales, spokesman for United Airlines, said it is important to expand the number of flights available from California to China, and current flights are not sufficient to meet the demand for travel to China.

"California has the most China-bound passengers of any state," Scales. said. "More than a third of U.S.-to-China travelers are from California," Scales said. "Traffic from L.A. to Shanghai has been growing 50 percent each year for the last three years."

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