Originally Posted by
sailingfun
The JV is the only way we get the slots and can make a hub politically viable. The airframes were ordered specifically for the Shanghai hub and that is why the range issues were crtitical.
I thought they were to ditch the Asian hub concept and overfly Narita to places like BKK and such. However, that does appear to be changing with the China Eastern and Korean deals that are in the works.