urbanSTL

^Was an airline announced? Is it China Eastern?

Yes.

Probably because there's still a deal to be brokered. We got the Chinese government's permission to make a deal.
Still amazing news!

And for a delegation to make a side trip while visiting the US says a lot.
I'm thinking (okay hoping) they're looking at investment opportunities (such as where to build all their new North American HQ office towers downtown!)

I may be drawing conclusions... but the delta and china eastern codeshares may be "why" delta has been beefing up St. Louis' flights and destinations to top destinations like Washington DC and NYC in the past few months.
They may have known that these opportunities would be arrising here in STL or were also "betting" on it.

Overall, great news for Lambert International and the entire city.

O&D traffic at Lambert (passengers starting or ending their travel here) has held up remarkably well over the last (post-American hub) years and is actually comparable to that of Cincinnati and Memphis combined.

Delta's expansion at Lambert has definitely been an attempt to go after American's (first class) business travelers. They jumped in the hole American left behind like Southwest did for mostly the (economy class) leisure traveler.

Delta's current direct flights from STL are to Delta hubs (including the former Northwest hubs) with the exception of a few major business centers (DCA, LGA and RDU).
To accommodate their Skymiles business flyers they will be adding a Delta Skyclub at Lambert this year and I've been hearing strong rumors that Delta is considering adding LAX and BOS to the mix at Lambert. No word yet if and when that will happen though.

The China Eastern flights will initially be flown by pure freighter aircraft. Code-sharing with China Eastern will surely not occur in the first years. I guess it all depends on how successful China Eastern and Delta will be here in the next years. If code-sharing will happen and again, it's a big if I can see Delta moving to the C-terminal where they would have access to the former international gates needed for immigration purposes.



Whatever will happen though, it will be a great day to see one of these over the skies of St. Louis for the first time. This will send a powerful message to anyone thinking of doing business in our city.

They better send Fred Bird, Robbie Montgomery (and her kitchen), Norm Stewart, heck, even dug up Harry Truman and send them all to the negotiations...

I'm sure they (the negotiations) will go quickly...There's no way you get this far in a business relationship and find surprises, right?

I would just hope they are able to get some type of exclusivity (if we're going to make significant investment in infrastructure) and that the nothing goes down without a giant panda showing up at the St. Louis Zoo...!

innov8ion wrote:

gary kreie wrote:From the Washington Post:

On Wednesday, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) praised a newly announced deal with a Chinese airline to create a trade hub in St. Louis, saying he looked forward to "increased agriculture and manufacturing job creation and economic development that this initiative will bring."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

I think he meant to say that as a soon to be former congressman, he's looking forward to assloads of cash in consulting services that this initiative may provide him.

Let's hope that does happen...It would likely mean a growing business in the Lou...?

Well, and he's leaving the houes of reps.

Mark Kern and MidAmerican say...

Regarding MidAmerica, I'd wonder if they'll be pursuing the interests of other Chinese airlines specifically, now that they know China Eastern has been named the negotiating airline (designated airline) at Lambert. Perhaps they will now focus on a second Chinese airline, such as China Air. Pure speculation here.

As well, I wonder the likelihood of Chinese shipments to MidAmerica in the near-term after the Chinese government expressed interest in pursuing first entry into the area at Lambert. Will they want to see success first at Lambert before considering supplementing air cargo delivery to the Saint Louis area, or the Midwest in general? How vital is the government's "blessing" to pursue negotiations to closing on a partnership deal? How essential is it for MidAmerica to have the Chinese name an airline to pursue deeper negotiations? Again, pure speculation & conjecture.

All the same, I'm interested in learning more about MidAmerica's differentiation strategies to attract cargo flights, assuming they'll change now that the "Big Idea" for Lambert seems within greater reach.