Newark flights to Shanghai sought

							Newark flights to Shanghai sought
Thursday, August 24, 2006

By RICHARD NEWMAN
STAFF WRITER

North Jersey business leaders are lobbying hard for U.S. government approval of a second non-stop route to
China from Newark.

Continental started its first daily service to China last year, flying between Beijing and Newark. It hopes to begin
a daily non-stop route to Shanghai in 2007.

But only one U.S-China route is up for grabs. And American, United and Northwest airlines have submitted
proposals to the U.S. Department of Transportation to fly to China from other airports.

Chip Hallock, president of the Newark-based Regional Business Partnership, a networking group with 450
member companies, recently sent e-mails to its member businesses, asking New Jersey business leaders to
send letters on their company letterhead to urge DOT to pick Continental's plan.

The partnership's "suggested text" argues that there is no non-stop service to Shanghai from Newark, and
Shanghai has "no connecting gateway anywhere on the East Coast."

The North Jersey businesses seeking labor, supplies, or customers in China include pharmaceutical companies,
retailers, manufacturers, and financial services companies.

Hallock, who is collecting letters to forward to DOT, said Wednesday he has already received "almost two
dozen" and he expects to get "scores."

If Continental gets the route, it would be "one more reason people would look at the New York metro and
Newark areas as good places to do business," he said.

Continental CEO Larry Kellner has been encouraging employees to send letters of support and he said Friday in
a weekly telephone memo that nearly 6,000 of them had done so.

The bids by other carriers "promise to make this one of the most competitive route proceedings Continental has
ever been involved in," he said.

The airlines have until Sept. 25 to submit documents in support of their applications. Industry observers expect
DOT to make a decision before the end of this year.

Kellner said Continental won't have another chance at getting a Shanghai route until 2009.

Continental provides the only non-stop service to China from Newark, although Air China flies non-stop to China
from JFK.

United Airlines, which already flies to Beijing and Shanghai from Chicago and San Francisco, has applied for a
daily flight to Beijing from Washington-Dulles.

Northwest Airlines, which flies to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou with stops in Tokyo, wants to start a non-
stop Detroit-Shanghai route.

American Airlines started service to Shanghai from Chicago last year and now wants to fly from Dallas-Fort
Worth to Beijing.

The Business Travel Coalition, a group representing corporate buyers of airplane tickets nationwide, said
Wednesday it is backing American's proposal to fly to Beijing from Dallas-Fort Worth.
"With the current U.S.-China gateways limited to San Francisco, Chicago and Newark, business travelers in the
South and Southwest for far too long have gone without a gateway to China. DOT must use this opportunity to
rectify this imbalance," wrote Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the coalition.

E-mail: newman@northjersey.com