American Airlines to drop Shanghai, Beijing flights

American Airlines is dropping money-losing flights between Chicago and Shanghai, and Hawaiian Airlines will suspend its only route to China because of low demand.

The airlines announced those and other route changes this week. The decisions reflect growing competition from Chinese carriers and rising fuel prices that have made once-marginal routes unprofitable.

American, the world’s largest carrier, said it will end Chicago-Shanghai service in October. The Fort Worth, Texas-based airline recently decided to cut flights between Chicago and Beijing, also in October.

In a podcast on the airline’s website, vice president of network planning Vasu Raja said the routes “have been colossal loss makers.”

American flies to Shanghai and Beijing from both Los Angeles and DallasFort Worth. It disclosed the latest pullback from China and reduced flights between Chicago and Tokyo as it announced additional flights to Europe, most of them limited to the summer peak-travel season.

Hawaiian Airlines said it will suspend its three flights a week between Honolulu and Beijing in October, The Honolulu StarAdvertiser reported.

The carrier started the route in 2014 and had already downgraded it from daily service. Hawaiian said it will shift planes to other routes that fit its expansion plans.