Originally Posted by
Ship741
To summarize the thread, the ending of the NRT hub was a foregone conclusion years ago. We tried to pry either ANA or JAL away from AA and UAL but were unable. Combined with the opening of the runway at HND and the desire of the Japanese government to end WW 2 legacy fifth freedom rights meant we couldn't compete effectively in Japan. The fall of the CCCP combined with the proliferation of long range twins made polar over flight a common thing and lessened the importance of a Japanese hub, which had been critical with shorter ranged planes and no Russian over flight . The Japanese economy has also been very slow for the last 15 years (Japan has a negative population growth rate also).
We were left with less desirable options: KAL (which we have saved at least twice) and China Eastern. Both are developing much slower than originally envisioned, thus the A350 deferral of 10 of the 25 planes for 2 years.
Finally, isn't SAP San Pedro Sula? In Honduras? SPN is Saipan.
Agree completely!
I remember eating in the Spiral Staircase (the original with a real staircase
) talking to some United dudes, discussing our move to grab JAL from AA. As they said, AA would have been dead in Asia without a partner since they had no beyond rights. Well.......thats where we are now.
If we would have gotten JAL away from AA, I doubt it would have helped us as a pilot group as JAL would have probably done most of our "south" flying.
Ferd
PS yes, Saipan is SPN........I miss it a lot
