Asian Airlines Seek Out New Routes, Code Shares.

<FONT SIZE="+3"><B> Asian Airlines Seek Out New Routes, Code Shares</B>

Maria Lenhart

Seattle - With all the hoopla surrounding the proposed British Airways-American Airways alliance, it's easy to overlook the fact that summer 1996 also is ushering in a wave of new code sharing agreements, open skies proposals and flight service with profound ramifications for travel between the United States and Asia.

At the forefront of the transpacific shakeup is Singapore Airlines, which entered into a code sharing agreement of its own with American Airlines on July 1 and, in the wake of the BA-American proposal, is calling for new open skies agreements between the United States and Asia that would match any of those with Europe.

SIA managing director Cheong Choong Kong, speaking at a recent ceremony in Seattle in which he signed a $12.7 billion order with Boeing for 77 new B777 aircraft, said he hoped the United States "will extend its open skies to cover the Asia-Pacific region, which based on traffic growth forecasts is going to be the largest aviation market within 15 years."

Cheong emphasized that U.S. carriers currently offer more than 50 passenger and cargo services a week into Singapore, a much greater volume than exists between the States and many European countries.

In the meantime, however, the much-anticipated open skies agreement between the Japan and the United States has been locked in a stalemate since the two countries failed to reach an agreement during a discussion in late June (<I>BTN</I>, June 24). No new date has yet been set for a resumption of the talks, which would amend a bilateral aviation pact between the countries dating back to 1952.

Among the matters now pending are requests from Northwest Airlines and United Airlines to extend service beyond Japan to Jakarta and another request from United to expand service between Los Angeles and Tokyo. On the other side, Japan Airlines is seeking more airlift into Hawaii, including a non-stop flight from Hiroshima to Honolulu.

Northwest, which had originally planned to begin service from Seattle to Jakarta via Osaka on July 1, has had to postpone the inauguration of the new service until Oct. 1. Meanwhile, the airline is using the available aircraft to boost its Seattle-Osaka service from four times a week to daily.

In a statement issued after the open skies stalemate, Richard Hirst, Northwest senior vice president of corporate affairs, said the airline was "disappointed that the Japanese government blocked our Jakarta service, which is permitted under the U.S.-Japan bilateral agreement. We had booked several thousand passengers on these flights, which were scheduled to begin on July 1."

At the same time, Japan Airlines has sought and been granted permission from the U.S. Department of Transportation to operate weekly Hiroshima-Honolulu service on a charter basis.

But while open skies with Japan are cloudy, they are bright between Thailand and the United States, where a new agreement is allowing both countries to significantly expand their transpacific air service. One dramatic result is that Thai Airways, which currently has Los Angeles as its only U.S. gateway, now can serve as many as eight U.S. cities directly and up to 10 more on a code-share basis.

An open skies agreement with Hong Kong enacted earlier this year already has led to new service, including the much-publicized entry of Cathay Pacific into the Hong Kong-New York market on July 1 (See story, Page 52). With flights running full this summer, Cathay will expand the service from five times a week to daily on Sept. 1.

Along with open skies possibilities, recent code sharing developments and flight service are smoothing the way for more convenient air service to Asia, particularly from gateways beyond the West Coast.

Delta Airlines, which has been particularly aggressive in pursuing transatlantic code shares, is expected to enter an agreement with All Nippon Airways on Sept. 1 that will enable it to purchase seats on ANA's daily flights between Los Angeles and Tokyo. The agreement also will allow for reciprocal frequent flyer awards in the airlines' two programs and will extend to cooperative ground handling arrangements at airports in both the United States and Japan.

Delta also expanded its existing code share agreement with Korean Airlines on June 1, enabling Korean to purchase seats on Delta's daily Honolulu-Los Angeles route and Delta to purchase seats on Korean's flights to Seoul from Washington, D.C., and New York.

The new code share agreement between Singapore Airlines and American is designed primarily to create easier connections between Chicago and Singapore. Under a recently revamped schedule, American now is offering 12 weekly flights to and from Los Angeles and San Francisco that connect with SIA's direct flights to Singapore via Taipei and Seoul.

Air travel between Chicago and Hong Kong has undergone an even more significant change, with new non-stop service on United Airlines inaugurated on July 16. The 16-hour, 7,788-mile flight is the longest non-stop service to be offered in Chicago history and possibly the longest ever operated by U.S. carrier, outdistancing even Northwest's New York-Toyko non-stop and United's own Los Angeles-Sydney service.

Operating three times a week on B747-400 aircraft and using sophisticated satellite technology, the Chicago-Hong Kong flight is estimated to save passengers up to five hours over flights that make a refueling stop.

Future developments in service to Asia include the first direct transpacific flights from Denver International Airport. Starting Oct. 28, Korean Airlines will operate thrice-weekly Denver-Seoul service on B747 aircraft via Los Angeles.