American Airlines is cutting a route between Chicago and Shanghai, canceling the second direct flight from the US city to China in four months, because of higher fuel costs and competition, the carrier said on Tuesday. The service is not sustainable with high fuel costs, said Vasu Raja, American’s VP of network and schedule planning. “We have opportunities to be successful in other markets.” American cut a flight from Chicago to Beijing in May. China’s aviation regulator said in May it would ease its near decade-old “one route, one airline” policy for Chinese airlines, allowing increased competition on long-haul international routes. “US airlines are at a severe disadvantage. The majority of the demand is China-generated, and that gives Chinese carriers the advantage,” said Mike Boyd, president of aviation forecaster Boyd Group, adding that fare yields are under pressure.<br/>
oneworld
Finnair will launch 3X-weekly Helsinki-Los Angeles services from March 31, 2019. The new route will be the Finland flag carrier’s first US route to be regularly operated with the Airbus A350-900. Los Angeles will be Finnair’s fifth US destination. The airline will also begin 3X-weekly seasonal flights from HEL to ORD and SFO in April. SFO will become 4X-weekly from May. With these changes, Finnair plans to offer seasonal California services: 3X-weekly to LAX and 4X-weekly to SFO. “We opened our route to San Francisco two years ago with tremendous success … We are confident that this new route to Los Angeles will garner the same level of interest moving forward,” Finnair CCO Juha Järvinen said. The new route will be operated within the Atlantic joint business between oneworld alliance members Finnair, American Airlines, British Airways and Spain’s Iberia.<br/>
LATAM Airlines Group expects to have its entire Boeing 787 fleet back in service by year-end, after it was forced to ground more than half its 787s in Q2 due to engine issues. The airline currently has six 787s on the ground, down from a peak of 13 aircraft in June, LATAM CFO Ramiro Alfonsin said Tuesday. The six aircraft are awaiting preventive engine maintenance from Rolls-Royce, says LATAM. LATAM hopes to have no aircraft on the ground by year-end, says Alfonsin, adding that the 787 grounding was a "most critical situation" for the airline during Q2. Like other Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 operators worldwide, LATAM has suffered from 787 disruptions for months. The airline has sought to mitigate this with leased aircraft and schedule changes.<br/>