Air China continues to grow in U.S. east coast

Chinese carriers, particularly Air China and Hainan Airlines, have now shifted their focus to the east coast of the United States. The two airlines previously largely maintained their presence and continued to grow in the U.S. west coast. This has however changed over the years, a recent study has indicated.

According to the study, the main focus of the two Chinese carriers was initially in the U.S. west coast simply because of the fact that here flights were much shorter than those to the east coast. The other reason was that the U.S. west coast had larger Chinese communities.

The study said that the prime focus of Air China and Hainan Airlines has now shifted eastwards. In 2013, the two airlines grew in the central United States with the launch of flights to Houston and Chicago. However, with the focus shifting to the U.S. east coast the two airlines started growing in 2014 with new flights being introduced to Boston and Washington Dulles.

The study further pointed out that even as Air China and Hainan Airlines have started growing in the U.S. east coast, carriers from Gulf countries like Etihad Airways and Emirates Airline have extended their network to the U.S. west coast.

It may be noted that Chinese carriers rather have a long history of their presence in the United States than Gulf carriers. Chinese capacity to the United States was however somewhat flat between 2004 and 2009. The situation later on changed in 2010 with a double-digit growth for Chinese carriers year after year since then.