Without profit, American airlines canceled several Sino-US routes.

[Global Times reporter Ni Hao] American Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines decided on the 21st local time that they would cancel two direct flights between Chicago-Shanghai and Honolulu-Beijing in October this year. American Airlines issued a statement on the same day, saying that although the number of passengers in Chicago increased to the peak in the past decade in 2017, the company’s profits were greatly affected due to high fuel prices and fierce fare competition. Raja, vice president of the company, said, "The airline service from Chicago to Shanghai is almost unprofitable, and we plan to adjust the direction of overseas markets." Hawaiian Airlines did not explain the cancellation of the route in the announcement, and did not answer the questions of the Global Times at the time of writing.

According to the statistics provided by the aviation technology provider Fei Changzhun to the Global Times, the average passenger load factor of American Airlines Shanghai Pudong-Chicago route in 2017 was 79.7%, and the passenger traffic has been declining year by year since 2012. Zhang Qingzhi, an analyst with CADAS, a civil aviation research institution, told Global Times on 22nd that American Airlines and China Southern Airlines reached a cooperation last year to try to turn the tide, but this did not alleviate the loss of this route. Zhang Qingzhi said that American Airlines will also cut flights between Chicago and Narita in Tokyo in December, and in May, American Airlines canceled the direct flight from Chicago to Beijing, and American Airlines has stopped most flights from Chicago to Asia. Honolulu-Beijing route is the only Sino-US route of Hawaiian Airlines at present. Since its launch, the average passenger load factor has been below 60%. Last year, passenger traffic decreased by 11.7% year-on-year.

According to the data of civil aviation resource network, the average passenger load factor of major domestic airlines is above 80%. Luo Zhiyu, an analyst at CADAS, a civil aviation research institution, told the Global Times reporter that 75% of the international passenger load factor is usually used as the measure, and high-level international long-haul routes will reach more than 90%. Luo Zhiyu believes that it is a common practice for the two major airlines to cancel their routes because of operating in profit and loss problem, and domestic airlines will also cancel their routes because of operational problems.

On the Internet, some people suspected that the cancellation of the routes by these two airlines was related to the previous request of the Civil Aviation Administration of China for foreign airlines to rectify the name of Taiwan Province. On the 22nd, a reporter from Global Times found in official website of American Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines that Taiwan Province was not listed as a country in the list of departure places and destinations of American Airlines, and there was no destination city in Taiwan, China in official website of Hawaiian Airlines.