SFO-Guangzhou put off due to fuel costs

The latest example of the impact of rising fuel costs on flight operations comes from United Airlines, which has decided to delay for one year its planned new non-stop service between San Francisco and Guangzhou. The flights were supposed to start on June 18. United’s non-stop San Francisco-Guangzhou route authority was one of two awarded to U.S. carriers for implementation during 2008; the other was Atlanta-Shanghai, which Delta started flying last month. Other new China non-stop routes in last fall’s awards, all due to begin next year, include Chicago-Beijing for American, Newark-Shanghai for Continental, Detroit-Shanghai for Northwest (presumably shifting to Delta if the merger is consummated), and Philadelphia-Beijing for US Airways.